LATE SPRING AND AUTUMN PERIOD, 6TH-5TH CENTURY BC

Very similar scroll pattern incorporating circular 'eyes' and rolled snouts suggestive of dragon heads, can be found on a jade bead dated to the Eastern Zhou period, 5th century BC, illustrated by J. Rawson, Chinese Jades from the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, p. 274, fig. 17:17. Similar scroll pattern interspersed with incised striations, such as that seen on the present plaque, can also be seen on an Eastern Zhou, 5th century BC greenish-white jade bead from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, sold at Christie’s New York, 14 September 2009, lot 59. See, also, the jade plaque dated to the late Spring and Autumn period, 6th-5th century BC illustrated in Zhongguo meishu quanji, Gongyi meishu bian, 9, Yuqi, Beijing, 1986, p. 56, no. 108, which features related dragon-scroll patterns along the sides and at the corners. Such surface designs were apparently influenced by fittings and rings made of gold, which had become widespread by the 8th century BC and which regularly appear in late Western Zhou tombs and in 8th-6th century BC tombs in Henan and Shaanxi.