East Asia, China, Han Dynasty, ca. 206 BCE to 220 CE. This is a fine hand-carved nephrite jade guard for a sword or knife blade with a zoomorphic feline incised into one face, and an anthropomorphic face on the other. The upper edge of the stone has a central notch, within is a piercing drilled through the jade for the tang of the blade to pass through and the other edge has a narrow slit for the sharp blade to project from. The feline is sinuous and shown in profile with a wing curling from the shoulder blades, indicating this creature is a mythical pixiu lion hybrid, an auspicious symbol of wealth. The stylized human-esque visage is a taotie, a mythological creature with a ferocious appetite, and here he is characteristically shown with a symmetrical forward-facing visage with scrolling horns and curled upper lip. The nephrite stone itself is a deep green with creamy beige inclusions - a gorgeous presentation! Size: 2.8" L x 0.5" W x 1.75" H (7.1 cm x 1.3 cm x 4.4 cm)

Chinese art has incorporated jade since the Neolithic period; quarries for nephrite, the formal name for one type of jade, have been found in modern-day southern Mongolia that date to ca. 4000 BCE. The stone was prized for its hardness, its beautiful coloration, and its durability. By the third millennium BCE, we know that jade had also come to be associated with immortality. Despite its hardness - a testament to the craftsmanship of early Chinese artisans - jade was used to make everything from everyday household objects and decoration to the ceremonial suits in which Han dynasty emperors were buried – with the belief that jade would preserve the body and the soul for eternity.

Provenance: private New Jersey, USA collection; ex-private Arts du Monde collection, New York, New York, USA, acquired 1980s to 1990s

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#168118

Intact and excellent. Natural creamy beige inclusions within the jade. A tiny pebble and remains of mineral deposits are lodged within the blade opening.