TWO SMALL JADE ORNAMENTS

LATE SHANG/EARLY WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 11TH-10TH CENTURY BC

Details

TWO SMALL JADE ORNAMENTS
LATE SHANG/EARLY WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 11TH-10TH CENTURY BC
One a trapezoidal plaque, finely carved in thread relief on one side with a taotie mask with coiled horns, the reverse plain, with a biconical hole in the center, the grey-green stone now almost completely opaque from alteration and of buff color; the other semi-translucent and of pale grey-green color, finely carved on one side in thread relief as a kneeling humanoid figure with finely incised hair rising in an exaggerated triangular crest, the arm bent beneath the large head and with a crossed circle above the upturned toes, pierced behind the head and through the knee, the reverse plain
1¾ and 2 7/8 in. (4.5 and 7.3 cm.) long (2)

Provenance

Both: C.T. Loo, New York.
Both: The Frederick M. Mayer Collection of Chinese Art; Christie's, London, 24-25 June 1974, lots 181 (taotie mask plaque) and 180 (humanoid pendant).
Acquired in October 1974.

Literature

Humanoid pendant: A. Salmony, Chinese Jade Through the Wei Dynasty, New York, 1963, pl. XII (1).
Humanoid pendant: Na Zhiliang, ed., Yuqi Cidian (Dictionary of Chinese Jade), Wenwen Chubanshe, 1982, p. 300, no. 2819.

Exhibited

Both: West Palm Beach, Florida, Norton Gallery of Art, C.T. Loo, Exhibition of Chinese Archaic Jades, 20 January-1 March 1950, pl. XXIX (10) the taotie mask plaque and pl. XXXI (2) the humanoid pendant.

Lot Essay

The trapezoidal shape of the plaque appears to be quite unusual. However, the style of the thread-relief carving, especially the treatment of the angular coiled horns, is similar to a jade handle carved at one end with a dragon shown in profile in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts illustrated in Chinese Jades: Archaic and Modern, Vermont and Japan, 1977, pp. 66 and 67, no. 4, which is dated Shang.
The shape of the humanoid pendant is also unusual, but the decoration of a kneeling figure, including the depiction of the crossed circle, is quite similar to several other humanoid pendants illustrated by Na Zhiliang, ed., Yuqi Cidian, 1982, p. 33, nos. 103, 105 and 106. Unlike the present example, these three have a curved outline and the crest is notched. It is also likely that they are carved on both sides.

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