Lot Essay
The bird's head was most likely the tang of a dragon-form pendant, such as one illustrated in The Fifteenth Anniversary Catalogue, Idemitsu Museum of Arts, Tokyo, 1981, p. 247, no. 1098.
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LATE SHANG/EARLY WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, CIRCA 1200-1100 BC
Details
FOUR SMALL JADE ZOOMORPHIC ORNAMENTS
LATE SHANG/EARLY WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, CIRCA 1200-1100 BC
One a fragment carved as a bird's head with hooked beak and bifurcated crest shown in profile, the semi-translucent stone of greyish-white color; one a taotie mask applique, now opaque and of pale greenish-buff color; one a rabbit mask, with slightly concave upright ears and details carved on one side, the translucent pale grey stone with fine black inclusions; one a translucent olive-green plaque of a compact bottle-horn dragon with backward-turned head, detailed in grooves on both sides
1 3/16, ½, 1 5/8 and 1¾ in. (3, 1.9, 4 and 4.5 cm.) (4)
LATE SHANG/EARLY WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, CIRCA 1200-1100 BC
One a fragment carved as a bird's head with hooked beak and bifurcated crest shown in profile, the semi-translucent stone of greyish-white color; one a taotie mask applique, now opaque and of pale greenish-buff color; one a rabbit mask, with slightly concave upright ears and details carved on one side, the translucent pale grey stone with fine black inclusions; one a translucent olive-green plaque of a compact bottle-horn dragon with backward-turned head, detailed in grooves on both sides
1 3/16, ½, 1 5/8 and 1¾ in. (3, 1.9, 4 and 4.5 cm.) (4)
Provenance
Bird head: possibly J.T. Tai & Co., New York, prior to 1966.
Taotie mask: Chang Nai-chi Collection.
Frank Caro, New York, 1964.
Rabbit head: A.W. Bahr Collection, Weybridge, 1963.
Dragon plaque: J.T. Tai & Co., New York, prior to 1966.
Taotie mask: Chang Nai-chi Collection.
Frank Caro, New York, 1964.
Rabbit head: A.W. Bahr Collection, Weybridge, 1963.
Dragon plaque: J.T. Tai & Co., New York, prior to 1966.
Exhibited
Taotie mask: Archaic Chinese Jades, The University Museum, Philadelphia, February 1940, pl. XIV, no. 267.
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