CHINA, WARRING STATES PERIOD, 4TH CENTURY BC

Details

A RARE PALE GREYISH-GREEN JADE OPENWORK DRAGON-FORM PENDANT
CHINA, WARRING STATES PERIOD, 4TH CENTURY BC
Finely carved as a dragon with curved body and bifurcated tail, its body incised with scrolls, a smaller bird-dragon supported on its tail, and another one below, the stone of a greyish-green tone with small brown inclusions along the edges
3 ¼ in. (8.4 cm.) wide, box

Provenance

The Collection of Robert H. Ellsworth, New York, before 2000.

Special notice

This lot is offered without reserve.

Brought to you by

Gemma Sudlow

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ellsworth@christies.com 212 636 2000

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Lot Essay

Compare the Warring States jade dragon plaque of similar shape in the Freer Gallery of Art and illustrated by T. Lawton, Chinese Art of the Warring States Period: Change and Continuity, 480-222 B.C., Washington, D.C., 1982, p. 151, no. 97. Like the present pendant, the Freer plaque features finely incised designs suggesting scales and fur, but lacks the two small bird-dragons supported on the tail of the present pendant. Lawton suggests the circular aperture at the mouth may have been used to suspend the plaque.

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