A PALE GREYISH-GREEN JADE CICADA

HAN DYNASTY, 2ND-1ST CENTURY BC

Details

A PALE GREYISH-GREEN JADE CICADA
HAN DYNASTY, 2ND-1ST CENTURY BC
The head, pronounced eyes, and wings of the cicada are indicated by crisply carved, wedge-shaped grooves on top of the body, while the underside is carved with the ribbed abdomen. The well-polished, semi-translucent stone has some opaque buff markings.
2 1/8 in. (5.5 cm.) long

Provenance

B. K. Wong, Hong Kong, 22 May 1989.

Literature

Nicole De Bisscop, Chinese Jade and Scroll Paintings from the Dongxi Collection, Brussels, 1995, p. 77, no. 39.

Exhibited

Chinese Jade and Scroll Paintings from the Dongxi Collection, Kredietbank Gallery, Brussels, 25 October - 17 December 1995; Kredietbank Luxembourg, 1 February - 13 April 1996, no. 39.

Brought to you by

Michael Bass

asianartny@christies.com +1 212 636 2180

Lot Essay

This cicada is similar to two illustrated by J. Rawson in Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, British Museum, London, 1995, p. 319, no. 24:9. See, also, the example illustrated by J. F. So in Chinese Jades from the Cissy and Robert Tang Collection, Art Museum, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2015, pp. 134 and 135, where the author notes that the life cycle of the cicada symbolizes rebirth, making it an appropriate shape for funerary purposes.

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