A DARK CELADON JADE OPENWORK ‘DRAGON AND BIRD’ PENDANT

SHANG DYNASTY, C. 1600-1046 BC

Details

A DARK CELADON JADE OPENWORK ‘DRAGON AND BIRD’ PENDANT
SHANG DYNASTY, C. 1600-1046 BC
The flat pendant is carved in openwork as a long-tailed bird with a high crest surmounted by a bottle-horn dragon with a hole pierced through the tail. The stone is of a dark celadon tone with some opaque mottling.
2 11/16 in. (6.9 cm.) long, box

Provenance

Acquired in Macau in 1988

Lot Essay

The unusual motif of a dragon surmounting a bird is similarly found on a jade carving excavated from the tomb of the Shang queen Fu Hao at Yinxu, Anyang, Henan province, illustrated in Yinxu Fuhao mui (The Jades from the tomb of Fu Hao at Yinxu), Beijing, 1980, col. pl. 32, no. 1 (354).

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