Warring States Period, 475-221 BC. A mixed group of carved stone tomb ornaments of various composition and colour, comprising: three facetted cylindrical pieces; one waisted cylindrical piece; one jade(?) tongue amulet with ridged upper face and incised design of a cicada, pierced on the base; four additional cicada-shaped tongue amulets. See The Arts Council, The Seligman Collection of Oriental Art, 1966, fig.126, for a similar cicada; see The Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 30.120.135, for similar. 155 grams total, 30-61mm (1 1/4 - 2 1/2"). From an important North West London collection; acquired in the late 1980s-early 1990s. Cicada begin their lives underground, before emerging as what were considered to be attractive creatures; it was thus an appropriate symbol of resurrection, often placed on the tongue of the deceased at burial. [9]

Fair condition.