Jade. China, late West. Zhou, approx. 9th to 8th cent.


Both sides of this extremely refined disc are carved with a pair of stylized dragons in profile whose elongated bodies radiate from the central hole in a spiral motion and terminate in a pointed tail. The dragons are carved into two registers separated by a thin, raised line: the rest of the decoration is bevelled, i.e. engraved at an angle of about 45°. This technique of carving, which was favoured during the late Western Zhou period, creates an interesting interplay between the light and the motif carved on the jade: depending on the angle the light hits the surface, the jade glitters and the engraved design seems much more vivid. The heads of the dragons are clearly detailed with round, raised eyes, a curling snout, a small pointed horn and jaws terminating in a pointed tip. Clawed paws are carved just below the sketched body rendered through a stylized hook-like pattern. Additional motifs which are similar to the geometrical patterns used to decorate the bodies are carved in front of the dragons’ heads. The symmetrical pattern is perfectly balanced and pervaded by a sense of motion. The jade is mostly of a white colour, with heavy inclusions concentrated in a small section of the ring where the stone has turned black and opaque white.

This jade has a matching counterpart in a similar though slightly larger disc (15.6 cm in diameter), discovered in 1992 in tomb M63 of the Tianma Qucun site, which is decorated with the same motif of a double dragon radiating from the centre: an image of the disc can be seen at: http://www.360doc.com/content/14/0204/16/10983756_349762795.shtml. Examples from Western public collections are a bead decorated with the motif of two dragons in profile carved within parallel spiralling bands (J. Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, London 1995, no.14:3) and two rings decorated with similar patterns in the Freer/Sackler Galleries, Washington, D.C. (Accession numbers S1987.516 and S1987.628, images at
http://www.asia.si.edu/collections/edan/object.php?q=fsg_S1987.516 and
http://www.asia.si.edu/collections/edan/object.php?q=fsg_S1987.628.
龍紋玉環。中國，西周代晚期，約公元前9至8世紀。直徑11.3厘米，厚0.5厘米。

DM UP TO 11,3 CM, THICKNESS UP TO 5 MM
From a German collection



Jades nos. 92 - 121 were examined by Univ. Prof. Filippo Salviati, declared to be authentic and dated by critical evaluation of their origin.
Salviati is a professor of Chinese art at the oriental faculty of the university „La Sapienza“ in Rome and one of the most renowned experts in the field of jades worldwide, specialized in archaic jades of all eras up to the Song dynasty. All images of jades on our website can be enlarged to high detail. Work by hand, signs of age, weathering and colour can be recognized in these images.
奧匈帝國舊藏。古玉由意大利 Filippo Salviati 教授鑑定。Salviati 教授是羅馬大學中國美術專家，世界上最出名的雕玉藝術專家之一。他的專業是商代一直到宋代的古玉。我會網上的古玉都可以方大，看的到最微小的細節，正如手工，年代，顏色等。