Page 81 - Important Chinese Art Hong Kong April 2, 2019 Sotheby's

Fig. 4
Jade arched pendant in the shape of a rhinoceros, Western Han dynasty
Excavated from the tomb of the King of Nanyue, Guangzhou
8.5 cm, 3 1/4 in.
© Museum of the Western Han Tomb of the Nanyue King, Guangzhou
圖四
西漢 犀形玉璜 廣州南越王墓出土
8.5 公分，3 1/4 英寸
© 廣州西漢南越王墓博物館

Fig. 5
Line drawing of a bronze vessel, 6th-5th century BC, Eastern Zhou dynasty, in the collection of the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD
After: Charles D. Weber, ‘Chinese Pictorial Bronze Vessels of the Late Chou Period. Part IV’, Articus Asiae, 1968, vol. 30, no. 2/3, p. 221, fig. 66f
(original drawing mirrored)

圖五
東周公元前六至五世紀 錯金銀青銅蓋豆 馬利蘭州巴爾的摩華特斯美術館 局部狩獵紋線描圖（原圖水平倒置）
出處：Charles D. Weber，〈Chinese Pictorial Bronze Vessels of the Late Chou Period. Part IV〉，《Articus Asiae》，1968年，第30期2/3號，
頁221，圖66f

The present plaque is the only one of the group depicting the unlike the feline silhouette of the tiger or the slender, sinuous
head of the animal diving far down, as if peering over an edge body of the dragon. All these attributes would seem to
– a stylistic feature that could, however, have been dictated suggest that the carvers did not have a tiger or dragon in
by the shape and markings of the original jade pebble rather mind, when fashioning these pendants, even though they
than by artistic intent. The brown markings around the may have been referred to as ‘tiger pendants’.
edge of the plaque suggest a very astute utilisation of the A similar but much smaller carving was excavated from a
raw material. The edge of the plaque bears a two-character tomb believed to belong to Zhao Mo, who ruled from 137-122
inscription engraved in rudimentary strokes, which so far BC, during the Western Han dynasty (206 BC – AD 9), as
remains undeciphered.
King of Nanyue in the far south and was buried at Xianggang,
The companion plaques are generally referred to as ‘tiger Guangzhou, Guangdong province; see Zhongguo chutu
plaques’. Jade hu (tigers) are frequently mentioned in yuqi quanji/The Complete Collection of Jades Unearthed
classical texts such as the Zhou li [The rites of Zhou], and in China, Beijing, 2005, vol. 11, pls 81 and 123, and Nanyue
the tiger seems indeed one of the most commonly depicted wang mu yuqi/Jades from the Tomb of the King of Nanyue,
animals. Tiger pendants are known at least since the Shang Guangzhou, 1991, pls 52, 54 and 55 (fig. 4). This pendant,
period (16th century – 1045 BC) and are very common in which formed part of the King’s elaborate jade pectoral,
the Eastern Zhou. The term ‘tiger’ appears, however, to have shows a very similar silhouette and has been identified as a
been retained for these animal pendants, even when the rhinoceros-shaped huang in Peter Y.K. Lam, ‘Selected Jades
tiger form was replaced by sinuous dragons, as is suggested from an Imperial Nanyue Tomb’, Chinese Jade, op.cit., p. 121,
by the appearance of the character hu (‘tiger’) inscribed on huang being the general term for an arched jade pendant.
dragon-shaped pendants (Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jade: One other related carving, but with almost plain surface
From the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, p. 261). A ‘tiger and probably also slightly later than the present plaque, is
pendant’ could therefore apparently have various shapes. illustrated in Rawson, op.cit., no. 17:13, from the collection of
Sir Joseph Hotung.
While the animal of the present plaque may be described
in the words of Wilson (op.cit., p. 127) as “at once tiger-like, Depictions of rhinoceros are otherwise rare in this period,
rhino-like, and dragon-like”, it certainly differs markedly but do exist. Since the Shang dynasty, bronze vessels
from the usual depictions of tigers and dragons. The most naturalistically modelled in the shape of a rhinoceros were
obvious feature is of course the clearly rendered horn on created and very realistic examples are known from the
the forehead. The snout differs as well, being much more late Eastern Zhou or early Western Han period (e.g. Peng
prominent and broader than usual and ending in a blunt, arc- Qingyun, ed., Zhongguo wenwu jinghua da cidian. Qingtong
shaped tip, quite unlike the curled-up or pointed snouts seen juan [Encyclopaedia of masterpieces of Chinese cultural
both on tiger and dragon plaques. Further, the silhouette relics. Bronze volume], Shanghai, 1995, pl. 855). Images of
of these plaques, with a bulging neck and shoulder section the animal can also be seen among other beasts in hunting
is very characteristic of the rhinoceros and graphically scenes inlaid in late Zhou bronzes; see Charles D. Weber,
captures the physical power of this massive animal, quite Chinese Pictorial Bronze Vessels of the Late Chou Period,

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