A RARE GREYISH-WHITE JADE OWL-FORM PENDANT

LATE SHANG-EARLY WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 13TH-10TH CENTURY BC

Details

A RARE GREYISH-WHITE JADE OWL-FORM PENDANT
LATE SHANG-EARLY WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 13TH-10TH CENTURY BC
The thick pendant is carved as an owl with extended wings as if in flight and seen from above, the features delineated by thin grooved lines on both sides. The beak has a bull-nose perforation for suspension. The semi-translucent stone of greyish-white color has buff veining and traces of cinnabar in recessed areas.
1 5/8 in. (4.1 cm.) long

Provenance

A. W. Bahr and E. H. Bahr Collection, 1963.
Arthur M. Sackler Collections.
Else Sackler.
Elizabeth A. Sackler.

Lot Essay

A comparable jade bird pendant dated Shang or Western Zhou, in the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, is illustrated by M. Loehr, Ancient Chinese Jades, Cambridge, 1975, p. 116, no. 130.

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