Page 8 - Bonhams Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Nov 2014 Hong Kong

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A rare yellow-brown jade ‘dragon’ pendant
Eastern Zhou Dynasty
The chestnut-yellow stone finely carved as a flattened sinuous dragon
with projecting wing-like curls and a bifurcated tail incorporating into a
bird-like head, the curved body embellished on each side with whorls
on the lower section and carefully incised with scrolls filled with hatch
lines on the upper section below the slender head with long curling
snout carved from darker-toned stone, a small hole on the body for
suspension, box.
9.1cm (3 1/2in) long (2).

HK$400,000 - 600,000
US$52,000 - 77,000

東周 黃玉雕龍形珮

Provenance 來源:
Eskenazi Ltd., London

Exhibited and Published 展覽和出版:
Eskenazi Ltd., Early Chinese Art: 8th century BC - 9th century AD,
London, 1995, Catalogue, no.21

Jade pendants such as the present lot were strung and used as 類似於本拍品的玉飾在墓葬中最常見的出土位置是墓主人的身體部位
ornaments suspended from the shoulder or waist as is suggested by 上，根據所記載的文獻亦可知這種玉珮多為懸掛佩件，以穿繫繩，佩
their positioning in tombs, as well as figural representations from the 戴於腰部或肩部。《禮記》曾記載帝王和王公貴族在馬車座駕時所佩
period and textual evidence. The Book of Rites, or Li Ji, comments 戴的玉珮也會隨著他們的服飾搖擺而發出清脆的鏗鏘聲，是權貴、財
on the harmonious tinkling of such jade pendants emitted when the 富和身份地位的象徵。《禮記．聘義》亦云：「君子比德於玉焉。」
emperor or high-ranking official walked or rode in his carriage, and 可見玉所代表的高尚道德與品格，成為君子規範道德、約束行為的
also links the pendants with virtue, stating that ‘in this way evil and 標誌，請參閱J.Rawson，《Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the
depraved thoughts found no entrance in his mind’, see J.Rawson, Qing》，倫敦，1995年，頁259。也參考一對定代為公元前四世紀的
Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, p.259. 龍紋珮，見同上，圖片編號17:9。
A pair of dragon-shaped pendants dated to the 4th century BC is
also illustrated by J.Rawson, ibid., London, 1995, no.17:9. 本玉器一端所雕為龍首，另一端為龍尾，也似為鳥首。此類集龍、鳥
紋為一器的玉飾品非常罕見，十分珍貴。相關例子並不常見，哈佛
The present lot is particularly finely detailed, and remarkably unusual 藝術博物館藏一件玉珮，其尾巴也為鳥首，見S.Howard Hansford，
for the bird-like head incorporated into the tail. Few other examples 《Chinese Carved Jades》，倫敦，1968年，圖版44。
with this detail have been published but see S.Howard Hansford,
Chinese Carved Jades, London, 1968, pl.44 for an example in the
Fogg Museum, Harvard, with a tail clearly shaped as a bird-head.

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