LATE WESTERN HAN - EARLY EASTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, CIRCA 86 BC - AD 88

The concept of winged immortals played an essential role in the Han dynasty belief systems. As Wang Yi writes in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, published circa 124 BC, 'There is a kingdom of flying immortals with feathers, where they do not die. Some say that when one attains the Dao, their body grows feathers.' These feathered beings were regarded as the embodiment of immortality and also as messengers guiding sentient beings and departed souls to ascend to the immortal realm.

Jades carved in the round, depicting a winged immortal riding on an animal, are extremely rare. Other examples illustrating this theme include a white jade carving of a winged immortal riding on a horse discovered at the Mausoleum of Emperor Yuan of late Western Han dynasty, see Zhongguo yuqi quanji-4-Qin, Han, Northern and Southern Dynasties, Hebei, 1993, no. 147 (fig. 1); a jade carving of a winged immortal riding on a bixie from the Arthur M. Sackler Collection, National Museum of Asian Art, object number: S1987.26. It is also worth comparing the style of carving with a celadon jade bixie-form stand in the Baoji Municipal Museum, illustrated ibid., no. 264 (fig. 2).