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AN IVORY WHITE JADE ‘DRAGON’ DISK, BI, WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY
奥地利
09月11日 下午5点 开拍
此拍品禁止/限制出入境
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Description

AN IVORY WHITE JADE ‘DRAGON’ DISK, BI, WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY
This lot is from a single owner collection and is therefore offered without reserve

Published: Myrna Myers (ed.) & Filippo Salviati (auth.), The Language of Adornment. Chinese Ornaments of Jade, Crystal, Amber and Glass, Paris, 2002, no. 18.

China, 10th century BC. Of circular form with a large central aperture. Decorated with an intricately carved pattern depicting archaic ‘dragon-birds’ in profile. The opaque stone now of ivory white color due to calcification.

Provenance: The Collection of Sam and Myrna Myers, Paris, France. Acquired between circa 1965-2012.
Condition: Good condition with wear, traces of weathering and signs of prolonged burial, small nicks, smoothened chips and natural fissures, some of which have developed into small hairline cracks.

Weight: 190 g
Dimensions: Diameter 12.5 cm

In his book ‘The Language of Adornment’ Filippo Salviati writes: the Western Zhou continued the style of their Shang predecessors in the initial phase of their domination, sometimes making it difficult to date jades to one dynasty or the other. Around the 10th century BC, however, a new style evolved. The disc presented here is a good example of the transition between the two styles. The decoration of the dragon in profile comes from the Shang repertory, but the carving is beveled, and the body ends in a bird’s head. Composite creatures as well as the symmetry of the design are distinctive features of middle Western Zhou iconography.

Bi disks, in general, are a type of jade which continued to be crafted in numbers by cultures located in central and northwest China during the transitional period between the Neolithic and Bronze Age. The majority of these disks range in size between ten and twenty centimeters, and larger ones are rare. Their size and weight, requiring both hands to hold them, suggest that these imposing disks were displayed and used in a ritual context. The hole is usually drilled from one side only: on larger disks, it is smoothed down and the traces of the tool marks are almost invisible:

Jade disks such as the current example have been thought to symbolize a connection between heaven and earth. This hypothesis has been solidified by the large number of examples found in ancient tombs of Chinese elite dating from the Neolithic to the Han Dynasty, also underscoring their significance as objects deemed important enough to accompany one to the afterlife. The Chinese character for jade, "玉" (yù), is even a pictural representation of three such disks suspended on a cord, an image that is also found in the Chinese character for king, "王" (wáng), which further emphasizes the precious nature and cultural significance of such disks.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Christie’s Hong Kong, 28 November 2018, lot 2730
Price: HKD 437,500 or approx. EUR 54,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A celadon jade ‘Dragon’ disc, bi, Mid-Western Zhou dynasty, circa mid-10th-mid-9th-century BC
Expert remark: Compare the related form, manner of carving, and incised decoration. Note the smaller size (6.1 cm).

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价格信息

拍品估价:2,000 - 4,000 欧元 起拍价格:1,000 欧元  买家佣金: 35.00%

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