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Lot Essay
HSIUNG YI-CHING
The set is comprised of a pommel, a sword guard, and a sword slide, with the latter two still retaining soil, wood and metal residues. The disc-shaped pommel is carved with swirling cloud patterns and a raised medallion on the centre, surrounded by two chilong carved in high relief with spherical bulging eyes, well-delineated backs, and robust tails, exuding a powerful sense of movement and energy. Compare the present pommel with a very similar sword pommel from the tomb of Liu Sheng, Prince of Zhongshan, Mancheng, Hebei province, is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Jades Unearthed in China, vol. 1, Beijing, 2005, p. 189 (fig. 1).
The sword guard, carved with formalised cloud scroll patterns and an animal mask, can be compared to a similar guard illustrated in Jades from the Tomb of the King of Nanyue, Hong Kong, 1991, pl. 190 (fig. 2).
The sword slide of rectangular shape, partially covered by some residues, is carved with an animal mask. A straight line runs through the centre of the slide with triangular diamond plaids connecting to the larger cirrus cloud patterns at the other end. Similar decoration can be found on a Han dynasty example illustrated by J. Rawson in Chinese Jades from the Neolithic to the Qing, British Museum, 1995, p. 300, no. 21:12 (fig. 3). Another similar slide in the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection is illustrated by M. Loehr in Ancient Chinese Jades, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, 1975, p. 312, no. 458.
The set is comprised of a pommel, a sword guard, and a sword slide, with the latter two still retaining soil, wood and metal residues. The disc-shaped pommel is carved with swirling cloud patterns and a raised medallion on the centre, surrounded by two chilong carved in high relief with spherical bulging eyes, well-delineated backs, and robust tails, exuding a powerful sense of movement and energy. Compare the present pommel with a very similar sword pommel from the tomb of Liu Sheng, Prince of Zhongshan, Mancheng, Hebei province, is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Jades Unearthed in China, vol. 1, Beijing, 2005, p. 189 (fig. 1).
The sword guard, carved with formalised cloud scroll patterns and an animal mask, can be compared to a similar guard illustrated in Jades from the Tomb of the King of Nanyue, Hong Kong, 1991, pl. 190 (fig. 2).
The sword slide of rectangular shape, partially covered by some residues, is carved with an animal mask. A straight line runs through the centre of the slide with triangular diamond plaids connecting to the larger cirrus cloud patterns at the other end. Similar decoration can be found on a Han dynasty example illustrated by J. Rawson in Chinese Jades from the Neolithic to the Qing, British Museum, 1995, p. 300, no. 21:12 (fig. 3). Another similar slide in the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection is illustrated by M. Loehr in Ancient Chinese Jades, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, 1975, p. 312, no. 458.