Page 10 - Fine Chinese Works of Art Bonhams Hong Kong May 2018

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A RARE ARCHAIC JADE DRAGON AN ARCHAIC JADE ‘DRAGON’ ROD
Late Shang Dynasty Late Hongshan Culture, circa 3500-3000 BC
Carved in the form of a circular coiled dragon with its tail curving The top wider end carved in openwork with a stylised dragon-head
towards the head, the horns and eyes subtly carved in relief, the body with protruding eyes, above an incised crisscross border, tapering to
incised with double-line scrolls, the top with a pierced hole, the stone a narrow end with a drilled hole, the stone of celadon tone with buff
of a buff tone with traces of cinnabar. inclusions, box.
3.6cm (1 1/2in) wide 13.3cm (5 1/4in) long (2).

HK$50,000 - 80,000 HK$100,000 - 150,000
US$6,400 - 10,000 US$13,000 - 19,000

商晚期 玉龍 紅山文化晚期 公元前3500-3000年 龍首玉璜

Compare with a similar jade dragon, Shang dynasty, similarly carved Compare a jade dragon-head rod carved with a similar structure,
with protruding eyes and double-line scrolls, illustrated in Compendium Hongshan culture, illustrated by R.Keverne, ed., Jade, London, 1991,
of Collection in the Palace Museum: Jade 2 Xia, Shang and Zhou p.63, fig.24. See also a related example of a jade ‘tiger’ rod, Lingjiatan
Dynasties, Beijing, 2011, pl.122. culture, excavated from Tomb no.15 of the Lingjiatan burial site in
Anhui Province, now in the Anhui Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics
玉龍玉質呈牙黃色，留硃砂痕跡。龍體捲曲，龍首與尾銜接，呈環 and Archaeology, illustrated by Gu Fang, The Pictorial Handbook of
形，兩角豎起，眼珠微凸，龍身雙鉤線刻紋飾，線條流暢，形制規 Ancient Chinese Jades, Beijing, 2007, p.91.
整。類似的商代玉龍，北京故宮博物院藏一例，參考《故宮博物院藏
品大系：玉器編2夏商周》，北京，2011年，圖版122。 玉璜呈長方形，璜的一端雕龍首，另一端平整鑽一圓孔，頸部陰刻交
叉格紋。參考一件紅山文化龍首玉璜，其造型結構與本器相類，著錄
於R. Keverne，《Jade》，倫敦，1991年，頁63，圖24。另對比一件
凌家灘文化虎首玉璜，出土於安徽省凌家灘遺址15號墓，現藏於安徽
省文物考古研究所，見古方，《中國古玉器圖典》，北京，2007年，
頁91。

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