J.J. Lally & Co., Oriental Art / New York City, New York
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EIGHT SMALL TURQUOISE PENDANTS
Western Zhou Dynasty (1027 – 771 B.C.)
a silkworm larva with curved, segmented body, two smaller silkworm pupae, a cicada pupa, and a crouching rabbit with long ears, each carved in the round and pierced near the head for stringing, and three variously carved taotie masks, each with plain flat polished back and drilled with a vertical channel for stringing, the blue-green turquoise of various shades, with traces of cinnabar and earth remaining.
Lengths 3⁄4 inch – 1 7⁄16 inches (1.9 – 3.7 cm)
Compare the turquoise taotie mask form ornament of more elaborate design excavated at the site of the late Shang/ early Western Zhou cemetery in Qianzhang, Tengzhou, Shandong province illustrated in the catalogue of the special exhibition at the Shenzen Museum, Yu shi zhi hun (Soul of Jade and Stone), Beijing, 2013, p. 139.
Compare also the small taotie mask form pendant carved from jade unearthed from the Western Zhou cemetery at Zhangjiapo, Fengxi, Shanxi province, illustrated op. cit., p. 92.
A similarly carved jade pendant in the form of a crouching rabbit unearthed from the late Shang/ early Western Zhou cemetery at Qianzhang, Tengzhou, Shandong province is illustrated op. cit., p. 137.
A small jade cicada pendant very similar to the present example unearthed from a Western Zhou site at Tangcheng huayuan, Luoyang, Henan province is illustrated in Luoyang guyu tupu (Illustrated Catalogue of Ancient Jades from Luoyang), Zhengzhou, 2004, p. 79, no. 81.
西周 綠松石飾八件 長 1.9 – 3.7 厘米
