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PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF ROBERT P. YOUNGMAN
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A GREY-CELADON, RUSSET AND BLACK JADE OWL PENDANT For a similar bird carving, see Yinxu fu Hao mu (The Tomb of Lady Hao
Shang dynasty or later at Yinxu in Anyang), 1980, reprint Beijing: Wenwu, 1984, p. 165, fig.
Carved in the round to depict a standing owl, the body neatly 85, no. 9 (507), and color pl. XXXI, no. 1 (507).
delineated with ridged scrolls forming the wings and feathers, the
upward-looking head with hooked beak and large eyes on the upper Another green jade owl dated to the late Shang dynasty (ca. 14th-
surface below a notched crest with horizontal hole for suspension, the mid-11th century BCE) was sold at Sotheby’s, Hong Kong, Chinese
spine with similar notches. Archaic Jades from the Yangdetang Collection, Part II, 28 November
2 1/16in (5.3cm) high 2018, lot 2720. Though lacking the notched spine of our example, the
decoration bears comparison. Another bird pendant, with the addition
$15,000 - 20,000 of a tall overlapping foliate headdress, dated to the Shang dynasty
is illustrated by Liu Yang, Translucent World, Chinese Jade from the
商或更晚 青玉鴞形珮 Forbidden City, Sydney, 2000, p. 58, no. 11, can also be compared.
Literature: The owl as a decorative motif commonly appears on bronze vessels of
Robert P. Youngman, The Youngman Collection, Chinese Jades, From the Shang dynasty and early jades were inspired by such vessels, see
Neolithic to Qing, Chicago, 2008, p. 49, no. 39 William Watson, Ancient Chinese Bronzes, London, 1962, pls. 13a,
36b and 36c for the bronze pre-cursors. For a closely related jade owl
出版： of slightly larger proportions (6.5 cm. high), unearthed in Fuhao’s tomb
羅伯特·楊門，《楊門藏玉：中國玉器 新石器時代至清代》，芝加 in Anyang, see Zhongguo yuqi quanji, ‘Compendium of Chinese Jade’,
哥，2008年，圖版39，頁49 (Shang/Western Zhou), Vol. 2, Hebei, 1993, p. 65, no. 82.
A celadon and russet jade owl dated to the Shang dynasty also from
the Robert P. Youngman Collection was offered at Sotheby’s Hong
Kong, 3 April 2019, lot 3416.
FINE CHINESE CERAMICS, WORKS OF ART AND PAINTINGS | 41
