Jade, China. Eastern Zhou, 5th cent. BC

玉龍（跟吉美國立亞洲藝術博物館藏有名的玉龍護身符成一對）。中國，東周代，春秋時期，公元前5世紀。長15.4厘米，厚約0.5厘米。維也納私人舊藏。

This fantastically crafted jade’s famous, larger counterpart belongs to the collection of the Musée Guimet, Paris (L: 23 cm). The body of the dragon features multiple curves, the rear section is literally s-shaped and has a volute at its end. The dragon’s head has an anvil-shaped jaw and a large, curved, protruding horn; its single leg is similar to the horn in its execution. This is probably the one-legged archaic dragon form of the kuilong. A small, rather snake-like creature, possibly a baby dragon, is attached to its rear section. On the back of the dragon lies – embedded between two curved, protruding features – an oval, ring-shaped piece. All of these details are present and executed in the same manner as those of the pieces from well-known museums that are listed below.

The fl at dragon body, the edge of which is slightly raised, features spiral clouds called wowen – “spiral pattern” – on both sides. On the decorative ring is a relief featuring a series of horizontal C’s with volute ends. The color of this rare jade is a very bright green gray with white and red-brown areas due to aging. Very good, complete condition.

A very similar pair of dragons is located in the jade collection of the Guimet Museum in Paris and one of these dragons on the cover of the exhibition catalog “Arte Cinese”, held in 1954 in the Palazzo Ducale in Venice.

This jade will be published in FILIPPO SALVIATI: “THE MYSTERIOUS STONE: Chinese Jades from the Neolithic to the Han in private collections” (date of publication spring 2017).

Notes by Prof. Salviati: This ornament is carved in the shape of a dragon with a sinuous body accompanied by a curling snake carved near the tail that resembles a stylized bird head with a long crest. A ring, held by two small protrusions which probably stand for shortened wings, is placed between the two central bends of the body that is entirely decorated with raised curls, while that of the snake is engraved with a scale-like pattern. Instead, the protruding crest of the dragon is marked by three bands with slightly raised ridges, as the other appendages that emerge from the dragon’s body. Openwork dragons, snakes and birds, occasionally holding rings, were carved within the cultural sphere of the Chu state, in southern China, to which this finely executed jade can be safely attributed. The closest comparable example is offered by a pair of twin dragon-shaped pendants in the Musée Guimet, Paris (length 23 cm), which were sliced from the same block of jade and carved identically. Similarly to this lot, the Guimet dragons are also represented as holding a ring, and their bodies are bent in the same manner with a snake carved at one extremity: a difference though is represented by the fact that the crests of the Guimet dragons are shaped as a bird’s head, and not their tails. One of the Guimet dragons was exhibited in 1954 in the Ducal Palace of Venice on the occasion of an exhibition of Chinese art. The dragon is also featured on the jacket of the accompanying exhibition catalogue, Arte Cinese, and illustrated in plate X under no.195. The pair of dragons in the Musée Guimet was published for the first time by H. Hansford, Chinese Carved Jades, London 1968, pl.45 and has also been reproduced in J. Ayers and J. Rawson, Chinese Jades throughout the Ages, London 1975, no.115.

LENGTH 15.4 CM, THICKNESS CA. 5 MM

From a Viennese collection



Expertise: Wolfmar Zacken (description) & Fillipo Salviati (dating and expertise)