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Jade. China, Eastern Zhou, late Spring and. Autaboutn period, 6th – 5th c. BC
龍紋玉璧 – 東周, 春秋晚期, 公元前6世紀-前5世紀 直徑 5,5 厘米; 孔徑 1,7 厘米 This small ring is decorated on both sides with the same pattern, consisting of five stylized dragon heads in profile orientated in an anti-clockwise direction. The essential features of the dragons are rendered through bold scrolls, used to indicate the snout, mouth and horns of the animals. The snout is also provided with an extension filled with etched, criss-crossing lines. The dragon heads seem to be emerging from waves or clouds and the overall composition is permeated by a strong sense of movement. Due to heavy alterations, the jade has almost completely lost its original light green colour, which can only be seen in a small area of the ring, while the rest of the jade has turned yellowish-white and opaque. On some points of the ring there are also thick, dark encrustations and traces of red pigment: this was scattered over the burial goods before sealing the tombs, according to funerary practices attested since the early Bronze period.A disc with a somewhat similar decoration is published in Alfred Salmony, Archaic Chinese Jades from the Edward and Louise B. Sonnenschein Collection, Chicago 1952 pl. 74, no.3. This jade is published in Filippo Salviati, Mysterious Jades of Ancient China, Edition Zacke 2014.
DIAMETER approx. 5,5 x 5 CM, INNER HOLE 17 MM
From an Austrian private collection
Our expert for antique jade from China is Prof. Dr. Filippo Salviati, sinologist at the University La Sapienza in Rome and international specialist for Chinese jade art, specializing on the Neolithic to Han Dynasty Period.
All jades are illustrated on our website (www.zacke.at) and can be zoomed to view in magnification. Thus workmanship by hand, traces of corrosion due to age and also colors are well recognizable.