WARRING STATES PERIOD (475-221 BC)

Details

A CELADON JADE ‘DRAGON’ PENDANT
WARRING STATES PERIOD (475-221 BC)
7 ½ in. (19.2 cm.) long, box

Provenance

Charles Antoine Vignier (1863-1931), Paris
Bluett & Sons, London, purchased from the above in 1924
Charles Lambert Rutherston (1866-1927) collection, UK, no. 24
Lord Rolf Cunliffe Collection, no. JA44; purchased from Bluett & Sons in March 1948
Sold at Bonhams London, The Cunliffe Collection- Chinese Ceramics and Jade Carvings, 11 November 2002, lot 112

Literature

Herbert Read, The Meaning of Art, Maryland, 1931, pl. 7
Captain G. Humphreys-Davies, Chinese Art Including Many Examples from Famous Collections, Exhibited in New Zealand, New Zealand, 1937, p. 32, no. 122
Bluett & Sons, The Rutherston Collection of Old Chinese Works of Art, London, 1948, p. 24, no. 122

Exhibited

On loan: The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1928-1936
Travel exhibition in Wellington, Auckland, Dunedin and Christchurch, New Zealand, An Exhibition of Chinese Art, 1937
Bluett & Sons, London, The Rutherston Collection of Old Chinese Works of Art, 1948
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1962-2002

Conditions of sale

Lot Essay

Charles Lambert Rutherston (1866–1927), a notable British collector and brother of the painter Sir William Rothenstein, established a significant collection of Chinese art from 1908 that was recognised by R. L. Hobson of the British Museum. His collection was exhibited posthumously at the Victoria and Albert Museum for seven years; a substantial portion, including the present lot, was lent to a major exhibition of Chinese art in New Zealand.

Lord Rolf Cunliffe, 2nd Baron Cunliffe of Headley (1899–1963), was a Royal Air Force pilot and a prominent Chinese art collector. A member of the Oriental Ceramic Society from 1946, he formed a discerning collection of Chinese works of art, including the present lot, and many of which have entered major public institutions.

An almost identical jade dragon pendant is in the collection of the Musée National des Arts Asiatiques-Guimet, Paris, accession no. MG 18435.

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