Lot 118
118
TWO JADE CARVINGS

Details
TWO JADE CARVINGS
SONG/MING DYNASTY

One a greenish-white and russet jade pebble well carved as two recumbent birds shown side-by-side, their heads turned towards each other over their backs, with archaistic designs on the long wings, the curled tips of two wings continuing under the base, finely polished; the other a white jade pendant well carved in the round as a coiled chilong shown biting its own tail while a rat crawls along its curved back, with some opaque white and brownish alteration from burial 3 5/8 and 2 7/8in. (9.2 and 7.3cm.) long, one box (2)

Lot Essay

The carving of two recumbent birds can be compared to a single bird from the Robert H. Ellsworth Collection illustrated by James C. Y. Watt, Chinese Jades from Han to Ch'ing, The Asia Society, New York, 1980, Catalogue, no.78

The pendant bears stylistic similarities to one dated to the Ming dynasty and illustrated by Fu Xinian, Guyu tuoying (A Selection of Ancient Jades), Hong Kong, 1995, p. 295, no. 174