A GREYISH-GREEN JADE FISH-FORM PENDANT

WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 10TH-9TH CENTURY BC

Details

A GREYISH-GREEN JADE FISH-FORM PENDANT
WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 10TH-9TH CENTURY BC
The pendant is carved on both sides with circular eyes and fins. The elongated body tapers towards the bifurcated tail and the mouth is pierced for suspension. The semi-translucent stone is of greyish-green color.
4 ¾ in. (12 cm.) long

Provenance

Desmond Gure Collection, 1968.
Arthur M. Sackler Collections.
Else Sackler.
Elizabeth A. Sackler.

Literature

J. P. Dubosc, Mostra d'arte Cinese, Venice, 1954, p. 63, no. 182.

Lot Essay

Compare the similarly elongated Shang-early Western Zhou jade fish pendants, but of slightly larger size (13.5 and 13.2 cm.) from the Falk Collection, sold at Christie’s New York, 16 October 2001, lot 201. See, also, the pair of jade fish with similarly carved details, but smaller in size (9.8 and 9.7 cm.), illustrated by Jenny F. So in Early Chinese Jades in the Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2019, pp. 258-59, no. 37A, where they are dated Western Zhou period, 1000-800 BC or earlier.

More from Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art

View All