AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE AND LARGE WHITE JADE 'TIGER' DISC, BI

EASTERN HAN DYNASTY (AD 25-220)

Details

AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE AND LARGE WHITE JADE 'TIGER' DISC, BI
EASTERN HAN DYNASTY (AD 25-220)
The circular disc is carved on both sides around the central aperture with a field of raised nodes within inner and outer raised borders. It is surmounted to the top with a well-carved chi tiger flanked to its sides with two mythical beasts. The stone is of a milky white tone with some minor opaque inclusions.
9 7/8 in. (25 cm.) high, box

Provenance

The Chinhuatang Collection, Taipei, acquired prior to 1999
The Yangdetang Collection

Literature

Teng Shu-p’ing, Collectors’ Exhibition of Archaic Chinese Jades, Taipei, 1999, pl. 199, pp. 286-287

Exhibited

National Palace Museum, Collectors’ Exhibition of Archaic Chinese Jades, Taipei, 1999, Catalogue, pl. 199

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Priscilla Kong

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Lot Essay

The present disc shows an intricate combined design of bi and pendant. Similar discs are known with pierced auspicious messages incorporated as part of the design, thus it is likely that these discs functioned as talismans or played symbolic roles during special occasions. Compare to an earlier Western-Han jade disc of similar design with addorsed dragons (25.9 cm.) discovered from the tomb of Prince Liu Sheng in Hebei province, illustrated in Zhongguo yuqi quanji, vol. 4, 1993, pl. 88, p. 68; and a Easter-Han example surmounted by openwork interlocking chi dragons, illustrated ibid., pl. 242, p. 174.

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