Page 31 - 2019 September 13th Christie's New York Important Chinese Works of Art

820
A RARE LARGE MOTTLED BROWN AND GREENISH-BEIGE
JADE BIRD-FORM PENDANT
LATE SHANG DYNASTY, 13TH-11TH CENTURY BC
The pendant is possibly repurposed from a cong and is carved as a bird in fight
with outspread wings and tail decorated in intaglio lines. The beak has a bull-
nose perforation for suspension. The greenish-beige jade has some brown
inclusions and traces of cinnabar.
2Ω in. (5.9 cm.) long

$30,000-50,000

PROVENANCE
Arthur M. Sackler Collections.
Else Sackler.
Elizabeth A. Sackler.
The thickness and unusual, angular form of this bird pendant suggests
it may have been repurposed in antiquity from a larger jade carving,
possibly a cong. Compare two jade bird-form pendants which are more
naturalistically carved, but with similar fattened, broad bodies and angular
scrolls decorating the wings, from the late Shang dynasty tomb of Fu Hao
at Anyang, Henan province, illustrated in Yinxu Yuqi (The Jades from Yinxu),
(another view)
Beijing, 1982, pl. 63, nos. 380 and 381, which are identifed as a young
swallow and cormorant, respectively.
商晚期 青褐玉鳥形珮

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