100% of the Buyer's Premium of all lots sold in this auction will be donated to Community Food Share by Artemis Gallery. $1.00 = 3 meals!

**First Time At Auction**

East Asia, China, Han Dynasty, ca. 206 BCE to 220 CE. A collection of five nephrite jade fragments from relief plaques, all likely made to grace the tombs of the Han Dynasty elite. The colors of the nephrite range from a creamy orange to almost black, demonstrating the beautiful range of the stone so beloved in ancient China. Most feature anthropomorphic imagery, with one including a rearing horse. All come displayed together in a custom Riker's box. Size of box: 16.25" W x 12.25" H (41.3 cm x 31.1 cm); size of largest fragment (triangle): 6.9" W x 3.75" H (17.5 cm x 9.5 cm)

Yu, the Chinese word for jade, is also an idea - of a steadfastness, and reliability, mirrored in the abrasion techniques required to make these intricate works of art. Yu is also not bound by the mineralogical definition of jade - over the millennia that it has been carved in China, the people have had varying access to sources of jade and nephrite - but is rather a wider term for hard stone of varying colors, like these. Jade items were often associated with heavenly imagery and relief panels like these would have been placed into a tomb to act as protection into the world beyond.

Provenance: ex-private Ventura County, California, USA collection, acquired prior to 2008

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#154025

All are fragments with edges sanded down in modern times. Nice deposits on surface with well preserved artwork.

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