A RARE PALE GREENISH-WHITE JADE BIRD-FORM FINIAL/INSIGNIA

SHANG DYNASTY, ANYANG PHASE, CIRCA 1200 BC

Details

A RARE PALE GREENISH-WHITE JADE BIRD-FORM FINIAL/INSIGNIA
SHANG DYNASTY, ANYANG PHASE, CIRCA 1200 BC
The flat plaque carved as a bird, probably an owl, shown in profile, with short hooked beak and two forward-curled crest feathers above a prominent ear, the wing extending from the rounded breast and curling at the tip above the down-curved tail, with a short pierced tab below the claw, the translucent stone with some opaque buff mottling at the top of the head, traces of cinnabar and some earth accretions
3 in. (7.7 cm.) high

Provenance

Chang Nai-chi Collection.
J.T. Tai & Co., New York, 1974.

Exhibited

Archaic Chinese Jades, The University Museum, Philadelphia, February 1940, pl. VII, no. 121.

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Lot Essay

Jade bird-form finial/insignias of this type have been excavated from the late Shang dynasty tomb of Fu Hao, Anyang, Henan province, illustrated in Yinxu Yuqi (The Jades from Yinxu), Beijing, 1982, pls. 44, 47, 50 and 58. Unlike the two forward-curled crest feathers of the present bird, most of them have a large crest, similar to that of lot 280 in this sale.

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