Page 47 - September 20 2021 Chinese Works of Art Bonhams NYC

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PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF ROBERT P. YOUNGMAN PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF ROBERT P. YOUNGMAN
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A STYLIZED PARTIALLY CALCIFIED CELADON JADE CICADA AN OCRE AND YELLOW JADE BIRD FINIAL
Han dynasty Han dynasty or later
Highly stylized cicada form with crisply carved facets, together with The hook-beaked bird looking over its back with simple channeled
the two incised lines near the top and a small notch in the center near folded back wings utilizing the Han badou technique and similar
the upper section forming the body parts of the insect, the other side horizontally-cut long tail feathers, the claws modelled atop a cylindrical
undecorated. hollow base, the matte stone with a dry appearance.
2in (5cm) long 2 7/8in (7.3cm) across

$1,800 - 2,500 漢或更晚 玉鳥飾

漢 玉蟬 Literature:
Michael B. Weisbrod, Inc., Metal, Mud and Minerals: An Exhibition of
Jade burial cicada’s come in a variety of types from the more detailed Chinese Works of Art, New York, 1989, no. 51
and naturalistic type, as illustrated by Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jade
from the Neolithic to the Qing, British Museum, London, 1995, p. 319, Robert P. Youngman, The Youngman Collection, Chinese Jades, From
no. 24:8, to the more minimal in design, as in our example, with a few Neolithic to Qing, Chicago, 2008, p. 81, no. 79
minor engraved cuts to show a simplified stylized form. For another
cicada akin in simplicity to ours, see a dark olive-green example dated 出版：
to the late Western Han or early Eastern Han (1st century BCE - 2nd Michael B. Weisbrod, Inc., Metal, Mud and Minerals: An Exhibition of
Century CE) sold at Christie’s, New York, Dongxi Studio - Important Chinese Works of Art, 紐約, 1989年, 圖錄編號51
Chinese Jade and Hardstone Carvings from a Distinguished Private
Collection, 2016, lot 934, where reference is also made to three other 羅伯特·楊門，《楊門藏玉：中國玉器 新石器時代至清代》，芝加
cicada carvings published in Illustrated Catalogue of Ancient Jade 哥，2008年，圖版79，頁81
Artifacts in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1982, pp.148-149,
no’s. 247, 250 and 252. According to Youngman, ibid., p. 81, bird finials like this one were
mounted atop staffs that were given to and carried by men upon
reaching the age of seventy years of age. The lines of its wings and
tail feathers are boldly delineated with pronounced cuts that are
perpendicular on one side and slanting on the other, forming a stepped
effect, in a style that is known as Han badou (Han eight cuts).

For a later Song dynasty (960-1279 CE) jade bird finial utilizing the
Han badou technique also from the Robert Youngman Collection, see
Sotheby’s, Hong Kong, 3 April 2019, lot 3421.

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