A PALE CELADON JADE BELT PLAQUE

Details

A PALE CELADON JADE BELT PLAQUE
TANG DYNASTY (618-907)

The rectangular plaque carved in relief with a Central Asian musician seated cross-legged on a mat and playing a box-like instrument held in both hands in front of his chest, wearing a long fluttering scarf and loose clothing falling in folds, his hair coiffed in elaborate curls
2 1/8 in. (5.4 cm.) wide

Literature

Robert Kleiner, Chinese Jades from the Collection of Alan and Simone Hartman, Hong Kong, 1996, no. 27

Exhibited

Christie's New York, 13-26 March 2001
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, August 2003 - December 2004

Lot Essay

Plaques of this type would have been fitted together on a leather base to form a belt. Numerous plaques, variously decorated with foreigners, musicians, dancers, performers and servers, are in museum collections. For examples with musicians, see Zhongguo Yuqi Quanji, vol. 5, pls. 53 and 62; Jadeware (II), The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1995, pls. 22 and 23; and the set of ten plaques depicting various musicians, from a belt in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, illustrated in Bulletin, Summer 1990, p. 59, fig. 75.

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