Dragon-shaped Knot Opener - Apr 28, 2017 | Galerie Zacke In Austria
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DRAGON-SHAPED KNOT OPENER

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DRAGON-SHAPED KNOT OPENER
DRAGON-SHAPED KNOT OPENER
Item Details
Description
Jade, China. Eastern Zhou, 3rd cent. BC to early Han daynasty (206 BC onwards

龍形玉刀。東周代,戰國時期,至漢代早期,公元前3世紀。長8.6厘米,厚約0.6厘米。維也納私人舊藏

COUNTERPIECE TO DRAGONS ON THE NANYUE PECTORAL. Very similar to this most finely crafted knot opener are some comparable pieces from, for example, the “Pectoral of a Concubine” (E124) fro the king’s grave at Nanyue. A further piece has been reproduced as piece no. 71 in the publication of the Collector’s Exhibition of Archaic Jades in the National Palace Museum in Beijing. Knot openers are called xi and were worn on the belt. This elegantly curved piece is entirely dragon shaped and – despite its fragility – perfectly preserved. The head is lively in form, the nose and chin in the form of an anvil. The whole, smoothly curved body is slender and ends in a point. Along the body there are multiple crescent features with pointed or volute-shaped tips similar in their curvature to the tail. A few fine lines indicate the mane; the scattered decorations on the smooth body of the dragon are either hook or grid-shaped. The jade’s color is a very light-green and is whitish when held up to light.

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: Elongated and slightly arched jades carved in the shape of dragons or phoenixes with a pointed end are traditionally known as xi or ‘knot-openers’: however, as many other jades, xi did not have an utilitarian function but were rather used as decorative pendants in composite ornaments formed by different jades, as attested by finds in Western and Eastern Zhou tombs. Xi remained in use until the Western Han period, when they were occasionally placed in the hands of the deceased: such is the case with Zhao Mo, the second ruler of the southern kingdom of Nanyue (2nd century BC). This xi is carved in a variety of white jade with almost no inclusions: the dragon has strong feline features and the body is finely detailed. A pair of very similar dragon-shaped xi, part of a five-piece set of ornaments in jade, has been discovered in the Nanyue tomb excavated at Guangzhou. The overall outline and design is similar to the present Lot, but the Nanyue jades are plainer, silhouette-like and lack the fine surface details of this xi. The same tomb has yielded another comparable jade which was found in the left hand of King Zhao Mo. In museum collections, a similar dragon-shaped xi is in the Freer/Sackler Galleries, acc. no. RLS1997.48.2135: http://www.asia.si.edu/collections/edan/object.php?q=fsg_RLS1997.48.2135 A second, very similar jade, originally in the collection of Alfred F. Pillsbury (1869-1950), is now in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (acc. no.50.46.278): https://collections.artsmia.org/art/948/pendant-in-the-form-of-a-xi-tiger-china Compare also one in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, published in National Palace Museum 國立故宮博物院, Gugong gu yu tu lu 故宫古玉圖錄 (Illustrated Catalogue of Ancient Jade Artefacts), National Palace Museum, Taipei 1988.

LENGTH 8.6 CM, THICKNESS CA. 6 MM

From a Viennese collection



Expertise: Wolfmar Zacken (description) & Fillipo Salviati (dating and expertise)
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DRAGON-SHAPED KNOT OPENER

Estimate €3,500 - €7,000
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Starting Price €3,400
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Galerie Zacke

Galerie Zacke

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