LATE SHANG/EARLY WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 12TH-10TH CENTURY BC

Details

THREE EARLY JADE PENDANTS
LATE SHANG/EARLY WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 12TH-10TH CENTURY BC
Comprising an arched pale greenish-grey dragon pendant, carved with a bottle horn and single claw, the remainder of the arc behind its curled tail ending in a slightly flared blade, the stone with some opaque alteration; a bird pendant, with large circular eye, large claw and bifurcated, fish-like tail, the stone altered to a buff-grey color; and a greyish-green bird pendant carved with hooked beak, circular eyes, long crest and upswept wings above a notched tail, the stone with some opaque buff alteration
3 1/8, 2 and 1 9/16 in. (7.9, 5 and 3.9 cm.) long, three boxes (3)

Provenance

Dragon pendant: Ben Blakeney Collection, Tokyo, early 1960s.
Bird pendants: Oscar Gerson Collection, San Francisco, early 1970s.

Exhibited

Dragon pendant: San Francisco, Golden Gate Park, Hall of Flowers, Treasures of the Orient, Society for Asian Art, 1979, no. 13.

Lot Essay

Two jade dragon pendants similarly carved with a slightly flared blade behind the curled tail are illustrated by J. Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, British Museum, 1995, pp. 216-7, nos. 12:11 and 12:12, where they are dated Shang period, c. 1200 BC.
Rawson also illustrates, p. 227, fig. 1, related bird pendants with upswept wings which the author states became widespread in the Western Zhou period.

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