Page 37 - 2019 September 13th Christie's New York Important Chinese Works of Art

829
A RARE BEIGEISH-YELLOW JADE PLAQUE
LATE SPRING AND AUTUMN PERIOD, 6TH-5TH CENTURY BC
The slightly curved plaque of rectangular shape is carved on top with small
dragons reserved on an incised line ground, and is pierced at each end. The
semi-translucent jade is of yellowish-beige color.
1√ in. (5 cm.) wide

$20,000-30,000
PROVENANCE
A. W. Bahr and E. H. Bahr Collection, 1963.
Arthur M. Sackler Collections.
Else Sackler.
Elizabeth A. Sackler.
Very similar scroll pattern incorporating circular ‘eyes’ and rolled snouts
suggestive of dragon heads, can be found on a jade bead dated to the
Eastern Zhou period, 5th century BC, illustrated by J. Rawson, Chinese Jades
from the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, p. 274, fg. 17:17. Similar scroll (detail)
pattern interspersed with incised striations, such as that seen on the present
plaque, can also be seen on an Eastern Zhou, 5th century BC greenish-white
jade bead from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, sold at Christie’s New
York, 14 September 2009, lot 59. See, also, the jade plaque dated to the
late Spring and Autumn period, 6th-5th century BC illustrated in Zhongguo
meishu quanji, Gongyi meishu bian, 9, Yuqi, Beijing, 1986, p. 56, no. 108, which
features related dragon-scroll patterns along the sides and at the corners.
Such surface designs were apparently infuenced by fttings and rings made
of gold, which had become widespread by the 8th century BC and which
regularly appear in late Western Zhou tombs and in 8th-6th century BC
tombs in Henan and Shaanxi.
春秋晚期 黃褐玉龍紋牌飾

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