CHINA, HAN DYNASTY (206 BC-AD 220)

The carving of the cicada is very similar to two jade examples dated 2nd-1st century BC illustrated by Jessica Rawson in Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, British Museum, 1995, p. 319, no. 24:9. A group of similar facial aperture covers and plugs, and a cicada, are illustrated by Yang Boda in Chinese Archaic Jades from the Kwan Collection, Art Gallery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1994, no. 224, where they are dated Han dynasty, and where their uses are described.