This richly decorated jade applique represents a typical Late Eastern Zhou theme and design. Undoubtedly part of a girdle, pectoral or related ornamental composition, this small, rectangular applique is undecorated on the back and bears three loop holes drilled from one side for attachment. See the reconstructed set of girdle pendants from finds at Liulige, Henan, and Guweicun, Huixian, Henan, S. H. Hansford, Chinese Carved Jades, London, 1968, fig. 5, p. 104 (top middle, no. 4) and pl. 30 (middle part). The present lot may be compared to the example recently excavated from Tomb No. 1 at Xiasi in Xizhou County, Henan, Zhongguo meishu quanji: Yuqi, vol. 9, Beijing, 1992, pl. 108, where each curling hook and undulating abstract form of the dragon's serpentine body can be picked out in a texturally and dynamically rich, purely ornamental display