AN UNUSUAL GRAYISH-GREEN JADE BIRD-FORM CARVING

Details

AN UNUSUAL GRAYISH-GREEN JADE BIRD-FORM CARVING
LATE SHANG DYNASTY, ANYANG PERIOD, CA. 1300-1100 B.C.

Of tapering, oblong shape, carved in the round as a bird seated upright with wings closed against its body above a plain lower section, the small head with narrow, rectangular eyes carved in relief below short, flanged, horn-like projections, the beak sharply curved under to form a loop, the back of the head split by a deep groove, with a broad, beveled crest on the other side, with simple grooved lines delineating the wings and tail, the gray-green stone with extensive opaque buff mottling, traces of cinnabar, some degradation of the surface--3in. (7.6cm.) long

Lot Essay

An exquisite example of a jade form of Shang date, this image, probably a version of the spirit bird "fenghuang", adheres to the shape of an oblong, awl-shaped shaft tapering at the bottom. In excavations this jade bird is known from two burial sites at the Late Shang capital, Anyang: one is the burial of Fu (Lady) Hao, Tomb No. 5, Yinxu Fu Hao mu, fig. 96:2, p. 192; and the other is the Xiaotun burial M331, Zhongyang yanjiu yuan lishi yuyan yanjiu suo 28, Pt. II, p. 661, pl. XIII:12; Yeung Kin-fong (Yang Jinfeng), Jade Carving in Chinese Archaeology, vol. 1, The Chinese University Press, 1987, pl. XXXVIII:8, 10A-B

Other comparable examples in museum and private collections have been published: the Winthrop Collection, Fogg Art Museum, Max Loehr, Ancient Chinese Jades, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1975, no. 329; Alfred Salmony, Carved Jade of Ancient China, Berkeley, California, 1938, pl. XXV:2; Illustrated Catalogue of Ancient Jade Artifacts in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1982, no. 105; and one included in the exhibition, Chinesiche Jaden aus drei Jahrtausenden, Museum Reitberg, Zurich, 1986, Catalogue no. 29. Two other similar birds, unpublished, belong to the Arthur M. Sackler Foundation

Compare, also, the example sold in these rooms, June 4, 1992, lot 177