A JADE CARVING OF A HUMAN FIGURE

Details

A JADE CARVING OF A HUMAN FIGURE
PROBABLY WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 11TH-8TH CENTURY BC

Carved in low relief with an elongated body and knees raised in a fetal position, the quadrangular head with pointed chin and pronounced nose, the small eyes below large curvilinear eyebrows, the body incised with scrolling double lines forming the arms and legs of the figure, the figure descending into a tail-like flange protruding from the body, the stone of ochre tone with darker brown patches towards the head
4¾ in. (12.1 cm.) high, stand

Literature

Robert Kleiner, Chinese Jades from the Collection of Alan and Simone Hartman, Hong Kong, 1996, no. 6

Exhibited

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

Lot Essay

In the introduction to the exhibition Chinese Jades from the Mu-Fei Collection, Bluett & Sons, London, 1990, Catalogue, Wu Hung speculates that the protrusion emerging at the base of similar figures of this period may indicate that they would originally have been erected on wooden stands as icons for religious usage. This idea is re-enforced by the absence of apertures to form a pendant on this figure.

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