A RARE PALE GREENISH-WHITE JADE SCABBARD SLIDE

LATE WARRING STATES PERIOD/WESTERN HAN DYNASTY, 3RD-1ST CENTURY BC

Details

A RARE PALE GREENISH-WHITE JADE SCABBARD SLIDE
LATE WARRING STATES PERIOD/WESTERN HAN DYNASTY, 3RD-1ST CENTURY BC
Finely carved in low relief on one side with a young, energetic striding chi dragon, its head with small bead-like eyes, the long trailing crest, rounded rump, and one back leg protruding above the rectangular bar, and the curled end of the tail carved in openwork at the end, the translucent stone with some opaque buff markings
3 1/8 in. (8 cm.) long

Provenance

C.T. Loo & Co., New York.
The Frederick M. Mayer Collection of Chinese Art; Christie's, London, 24-25 June 1974, lot 176.
Acquired in October 1974.

Exhibited

West Palm Beach, Florida, Norton Gallery of Art, C.T. Loo, An Exhibition of Chinese Archaic Jades, 20 January-1 March 1950, pl. LVIII (6).
New York, China House, The Art of Eastern Chou 772-221 B.C., 1962, no. 72.

Lot Essay

This rare and very finely carved scabbard slide is highly unusual in that the parts of the young dragon extend beyond the sides of the rectangular bar. One pale greenish-white jade chape where this occurs in a more limited fashion is illustrated by J. Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, British Museum, 1995, p. 302, no. 21:15. On this example, however, the body of the dragon is more rounded and carved in higher relief than on the present slide, which is more a feature of Han jades. The slide that is most similar to the present example is the one illustrated by R. Keverne, ed., Jade, London, 1991, p. 109, fig. 38. The carving of the chilong appears to be very similar, the main difference being the inclusion of a monkey seated astride one edge. This piece is dated to the Warring States period.

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