MID-WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, CIRCA 950-850 BC

The present type of trapezoidal jade ornament was worn along with tubular beads by the high-ranking nobility during the Western Zhou dynasty. The present ornament is carved on the front using double incised lines to depict stylised dragons, and it is perforated with a row of small holes on each of its two parallel straight sides. A similar trapezoidal jade ornament from the Western Zhou dynasty is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, featuring a symmetrial phoenix design, see The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Jadeware (I), Hong Kong, 1995, p. 113, no. 94 (fig. 1).