J.J. Lally & Co., Oriental Art / New York City, New York
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FIVE JADE ENTWINED DRAGON AND BIRD PLAQUES
Western Zhou Dynasty (1027 – 771 B.C.)
each pierced and carved with the highly simplified angular silhouette of a dragon head at one end and a bird head at the opposite end, the bodies conjoined at the center, incised with linear details and oval ‘eyes’ on one side, the reverse plain and drilled with tiny perforations for stringing across the angles at the edges, the pale olive green jade showing remains of earth and cinnabar.
Lengths 1 7⁄8 – 2 1⁄8 inches (5.4 – 4.8 cm)
Compare the very similar jade plaques strung in a collar discovered at the Western Zhou cemetery of the Jin State at the Tianma-Qucun site, Shanxi province, illustrated on the cover of Wenwu, 1995, No. 7, and in the excavation report on pp. 35-36. The same collar is illustrated by Gu (ed.), Zhongguo chutu yuqi quanji (Complete Collection of Jades Unearthed in China), Vol. 3, Shanxi, Beijing, 2005, p. 135.
西周 龍鳳紋玉珮五件 長 5.4 – 4.8 厘米
