Page 46 - Marchant Ninety Jades For 90 Years

二 20. Rectangular openwork plaque of a Buddhist apsara, also known as a feitian, ‘flying celestial being’, wearing a flowing scarf and ribbons,

十 long robes and a cap on her detailed hair, beside a lotus flower, open leaf and scrolling branches, all above clouds scrolls, the reverse

similarly carved in low relief, the stone pure white.
飞 2 ⅜ inches, 6 cm long; 1 ⅞ inches, 4.8 cm high.
天 Song dynasty, 960-1279.
紋

飾 • From a private American collection.

白 • The apsara, a heavenly being flying into the wind, first appears as a jade ornament during the Tang dynasty and the image
玉 appears to have some influence from the interaction between China and other cultures. The images on the early frescos in the
Dunhuang Buddhist Cave Temples depict them often flying with the support of clouds and wearing long flowing sashes and

宋 ribbons. Occasionally, the apsara is depicted as a boy. One in the Qing Court collection is illustrated by is Zhou Nan-quan in
The Complete Collection of Treasures in the Palace Museum, Jadeware (II), vol. 41, no. 17, p. 19, and in a cover front plate.

• Two Tang examples are illustrated by Zhao Gui Ling in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum, Jade, Vol. 5, Tang, Song,

Liao, Jin and Yuan Dynasties, Gu Gong Inventory no. Gu 84899, no. 17, p. 35, and Gu Gong Inventory no. Xin 150945, no.

18, pp. 36/7; a pair of pure-white jade apsara deities among clouds, dated to the Tang or Liao dynasty, in the British Museum,

are illustrated by Jessica Rawson in Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, no. 25:6, pp. 332/3, where the author notes,

‘The fine quality of the jade attested to the high value of these pieces. The theme of heavenly beings and the style in which they

are represented show the influence of Central Asian forms which were introduced from kingdoms further west. Spectacular

examples of heavenly beings are found in the sixth-century cave 285 at Dunhuang in Gansu province. Such relatively early

examples are depicted without cloud support. During the Tang, such beings were almost invariably shown with tri-lobed clouds

(as illustrated by Rawson, fig. 1, p. 333) which in the tenth century became a continuous rolling cloud. This development is

roughly paralleled in jade.’

• We have dated the present example to the Song dynasty as the rectangular form first appeared during this period. A plaque with

peacocks is illustrated by Mei Ninghua & Tao Xincheng in Gems of Beijing Cultural Relics Series, Jades, no. 100, p. 108, and a

dragon plaque with similar clouds is illustrated by Zhou Nan-quan in The Complete Collection of Treasures in the Palace Museum,

Jadeware (II), vol. 41, no. 62, p. 72; a Northern Song dynasty apsara of similar style with right hand raised on scrolling clouds is

illustrated by Angus Forsyth and Brian McElney in Jades from China, The Museum of East Asian Art, Bath, no. 223, p. 314.

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