A RARE OPAQUE JADE TAPERING AWL-SHAPED PENDANT

SHANG DYNASTY, CIRCA 1500-1100 BC

Details

A RARE OPAQUE JADE TAPERING AWL-SHAPED PENDANT
SHANG DYNASTY, CIRCA 1500-1100 BC
With rounded conical bottom below a plain band encircled by double bow-string bands, and a diagonally ribbed shaft tapering to a tip with biconical hole, the stone now opaque and of ivory color; together with two small white jade fittings, late Shang/early Western Zhou dynasty, one with a small mask-shaped hook at one end, incised decoration, and a beveled edge pierced with holes for attachment at the other end, the reverse left plain; the other, possibly a 'handle', carved on two sides with a dragon surmounted by a bottle horn, one of the narrow sides with a continuation of the dragons, the other narrow side with diamond pattern
3 7/8, 2 and 2¾ in. (9.9, 5 and 7 cm.) long (3)

Provenance

All: Chang Nai-chi Collection.
J.T. Tai & Co., New York, prior to 1966.

Exhibited

All three: Archaic Chinese Jades, The University Museum, Philadelphia, February 1940, pl. I, no. 10, pl. VII, no. 126 and pl. XVI, no. 299, respectively.

If you wish to view the condition report of this lot, please sign in to your account.

View condition report

Lot Essay

The awl-shaped pendant is similar in type to two longer examples (6 3/8 and 6 in. long) in the Sonnenschein Collection illustrated by A. Salmony, Archaic Chinese Jades, The Art Institute of Chicago, 1952, pl. XXXV (6 and 7).
The small fitting with the mask-shaped hook is similar in form to one dated Western Zhou in the Qing Court collection illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 40 - Jadeware (I), Beijing, 1995, pp. 118-9, no. 99.

More from Fine Chinese Art from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections

View All