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PROPERTY FROM THE ARTHUR M. SACKLER COLLECTIONS SCHOLARSHIP, DISCOVERY AND THE ARTHUR M. SACKLER COLLECTIONS OF CHINESE ART JENNY F. SO PROFESSOR OF FINE ARTS, THE CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG No other Twentieth Century collection of Chinese art can rival the encyclopedic nature of the Arthur M. Sackler Collections. The impressive variety in the collections illustrates Dr. Arthur M. Sackler's all-encompassing approach to collecting, and his acute appreciation of the height and breadth of China's artistic achievements over the ages. The Arthur M. Sackler Collections were more than just a vast treasure trove of Chinese art. The promotion of in-depth, interdisciplinary studies using the most up-to-date art-historical, archaeological, and technical methods was envisioned and realized by Dr. Arthur M. Sackler. Some of the most important research and publication projects in Chinese art over almost half a century were based on the contents of the Arthur M. Sackler Collections. My association with the collections began in the mid-1970s while I was still a graduate student at Harvard. In 1975, Dr. Sackler commissioned Harvard University to produce a three-volume catalogue of the ancient Chinese bronzes in his collections, which was an invaluable learning experience, and the resulting publications made lasting contributions to scholarship on Chinese art in the West. The Arthur M. Sackler Collections of archaic Chinese jades remind us that, since over two thousand years ago, ancient jade-workers had already mastered the techniques in working some of Nature's hardest minerals (jade and agate); and that this technical achievement was motivated and perfected by a profound veneration, respect, and love for these materials that began more than five thousand years ago. (This is an extract from an essay written by Professor So and published in Christie's catalogue for the sale 'Fine Chinese Art from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections', held in our New York Rooms on 18 March 2009.)

THREE GREYISH-GREEN SEMI-TRANSLUCENT JADE ARCHED PENDANTS

LATE SHANG/EASTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 11TH - 5TH CENTURY BC

Details

THREE GREYISH-GREEN SEMI-TRANSLUCENT JADE ARCHED PENDANTS
LATE SHANG/EASTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 11TH - 5TH CENTURY BC
One in the form of a curved dagger with meridian ridge, bevelled edges and a notched edge to the pierced tang; one carved with grooved lines on both sides and at one end with a dragon head, with bevelled edges; the third a section of a three-part bi, with two conical holes
3¼ to 3 5/8 in. (8.2 to 9.2 cm.) long (3)

Provenance

Dagger pendant and second pendant: A.W. Bahr Collection, Weybridge, 1963.
Bi section: J.T. Tai & Co., 28 December 1964, Inv. 3911

Special notice

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