Jade, China. Late Eastern Zhou to Early Western Han, 3rd to 2nd cent. BC

玉璧。中國，西漢代，公元前3-2世紀。外直徑16.2厘米，內直徑3.1厘米。厚約0.4厘米。維也納私人舊藏。

COUNTERPART TO THE BI DISCS OF THE ROYAL TOMB OF NANYUE. This bi features a fi nely carved relief in the style of a “kernel pattern”, called guwen, on both sides. Perfectly straight lines crossing one another have been cut such that each corn is surrounded by a diamond. Since the bi disk is a symbol of the heavens, or the universe, this guwen symbolizes the stellar world and, with certainly more than a thousand tiny “kernels”, even attempts to approximate its complexity. The small inner diameter and the therefore wide surface reinforce this suggestive effect. This image is realistically animated by the whitish, cloudy sections that appear almost as passing clouds. Otherwise, the color is rather reddish-yellow and can certainly be attributed to the piece’s extended storage under loess. The outer as well as the inner edge are even and smooth. The more exposed parts of the edges??show weathering due to the piece’s age, though the piece is on the whole well and completely preserved.

Very similarly crafted disks were found in the gravesite of Zhao Mo, the ruler of the Nanyue kingdom. Zhao Mo’s rules began in 137 BC. A further piece of comparison can be found in the publication “Radiant Stone” by Filippo Salviati. (WMZ-NH)

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: Both surfaces of this disc are decorated with a pattern of hexagon-like bumps, a motif which is ultimately derived from the curls and scrolls that were used to decorate Eastern Zhou jades since the 5th century BC. The jade is pale green with extensive brown areas due to prolonged burial. Such discs were probably crafted solely for burial purposes and were placed in the tomb on the body of the deceased or on the coffin. Similar discs from excavations include a few from the 2nd century BC tomb of Zhao Mo, King of Nanyue, in Guangzhou. One of these, large and with a small hole such as the present Lot, was found placed on the chest inside the jade shroud which covered the body of the king: thirteen more discs of decreasing size were arranged in rows over and along the body. In museum collections, similar discs from the Sonneschein collection are in The Art Institute, Chicago: they are published in A. Salmony, Archaic Chinese Jades, Chicago 1952, pl.68:1 and 69:1.

DIAMETER 16.2 CM, INSIDE 3.1 CM, THICKNESS CA. 4 MM

From a Viennese collection



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