Page 26 - 2019 September 13th Christie's New York Important Chinese Works of Art

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A RARE GREYISH-WHITE JADE OWL-FORM PENDANT TWO SMALL JADE FISH-FORM PENDANTS
LATE SHANG-EARLY WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, LATE SHANG-EARLY WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY,
13TH-10TH CENTURY BC 13TH-11TH CENTURY BC
The thick pendant is carved as an owl with extended wings as if in fight and The tail of each has a cutting edge allowing it to be used as a tool. One of beige
seen from above, the features delineated by thin grooved lines on both sides. and pale green color has a hole drilled in the head; the other of greenish-grey
The beak has a bull-nose perforation for suspension. The semi-translucent color and of arched shape has a hole drilled in both the head and the tail.
stone of greyish-white color has buf veining and traces of cinnabar in
2º and 3 in. (5.6 and 7.5 cm.) long
recessed areas.
(2)
1¬ in. (4.1 cm.) long $6,000-8,000
$8,000-12,000
PROVENANCE
Upper: Desmond Gure Collection, 1968.
PROVENANCE Arthur M. Sackler Collections.
A. W. Bahr and E. H. Bahr Collection, 1963. Else Sackler.
Arthur M. Sackler Collections. Elizabeth A. Sackler.
Else Sackler. Lower: A. W. Bahr and E. H. Bahr Collection, 1963.
Elizabeth A. Sackler. Arthur M. Sackler Collections.
Else Sackler.
A comparable jade bird pendant dated Shang or Western Zhou, in the Elizabeth A. Sackler.
Grenville L. Winthrop Collection, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University,
is illustrated by M. Loehr, Ancient Chinese Jades, Cambridge, 1975, p. 116, In her discussion of a late Shang jade curved bottle-horned dragon tool
no. 130. with thin, sharp edge extending from the tail, similar to those seen on the
商晚期/西周早期 白玉鴞形珮 present pendants, Jenny F. So notes in Early Chinese Jades in the Harvard
Art Museums, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2019, p. 136, “A wide range of
activities in Shang society – inscribing oracle bones, carving designs on
clay vessels, molds, and models for bronze-casting, the production and
decoration of bone and ivory articles, and more – required engraving tools.
A total of twenty-three similarly shaped tools in jade and three in bone
surmounted by bird, turtle and reptile motifs recovered from Fu Hao’s
tomb at Anyang signal the elevated status of this activity in Shang society.
Although natural and cheaper choices for engraving tools might be bone,
shell, and similar materials, jade versions must have been considered
superior in both material and status for the craftsmen who used them.”
商晚期/西周早期 玉魚形珮兩件

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