Page 121 - Sothebys HK Dragon Emperor April 2024

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A RARE CELADON JADE ‘DRAGON HEAD’ 元 青白玉龍首
ORNAMENT,
YUAN DYNASTY
21.8 cm

HK$ 1,200,000-1,800,000
US$ 154,000-231,000

An auspicious beast that brings benevolent rulers and live- See a Tang dynasty dragon head from the Junkunc
giving rain in its wake, in all of Chinese iconography there Collection, carved in a similar style with a deep rectangular
are few that even come close to the power and might of the trough at the rear and illustrated in Alfred Salmony, Chinese
dragon. Jade Through the Wei Dynasty, New York, 1963, pl. XXXI-2,
Boldly rendered with glaring eyes and finely incised cloud- which serves as an early prototype for large jade dragons of
like mane, this rare piece exemplifies the heights of Yuan this kind. Compare also a very similar Yuan finial of darker
jade carving. Jades produced in the Yuan dynasty for the green jade from the Muwen Tang collection, illustrated in In
Emperor and his court express an unparalleled sense of Pursuit of Antiquities: 40th Anniversary Exhibition of the Min
dynamism and vigour. A very similar jade finial but with Chiu Society, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 2001,
two deeply drilled depressions on underside and smaller cat. no. 96.
hole through the mane in the National Museum of Asian Art For an example of a similarly rendered architectural element,
(accession no. S1987.819) is illustrated in Asian Art in the see also the carved marble dragon’s head excavated from
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. The Inaugural Gift. Washington, Yuan Shangdu from the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region
1987. cat. no. 85. Museum, Hohhot, exhibited and published in The World
The Qing dynasty encyclopaedia Gujin tushu jicheng of Khubilai Khan: Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty, The
(‘Complete collection of pictures and books of old and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2010, p. 49, fig. 58.
modern times’) makes reference to five imperial carriages
and, among them, the so-called Yu Lu (‘Jade Carriage’),
adorned in celadon jade, on which the emperor would ride
to perform sacrifices. Accompanying the text, a woodblock
illustration (fig. 1) shows similar dragon-head fittings that
were used as worthy adornments for the imperial chariot.

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