TWO JADE NECKLACE CLOSING DEVICES

LATE SHANG/EARLY WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, CIRCA 1200-1000 BC

Details

TWO JADE NECKLACE CLOSING DEVICES
LATE SHANG/EARLY WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, CIRCA 1200-1000 BC
One of rounded square form, the flat plaque of translucent pale yellowish-green stone well carved on both sides with a bird with hooked beak and backward-arching tail surrounding the biconically drilled hole in the center; the other of translucent white and pale brown stone, the flat plaque carved in the shape of a bird in flight, the front detailed with circular eyes, wing and tail feathers, with tiny biconical holes drilled through the head and tail and one in the body which is larger on the reverse
Both 1 3/8 in. (3.5 cm.) across (2)

Provenance

First: A.W. Bahr Collection, Weybridge, 1963.
Second: acquired prior to 1978.

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Lot Essay

The carving of the hook-beaked bird on the first closing device is similar to that found on a circular example excavated from the Western Zhou Tomb No. 9 at Zhuyuan'gou, Baoji, Shaanxi province, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Unearthed Jades in China - 14 - Shaanxi, Beijing, 2005, p. 54.

Similar jade closing devices and pendants carved as birds in flight have been unearthed at Qianzhangda, Tengzhou, Shandong province, and include two examples illustrated in The Complete Collection of Unearthed Jades in China - 4 - Shandong, Beijing, 2005, p. 113 (excavated from Tomb No. 3) and p. 114 (excavated from Tomb No. 110).

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