Jade. China, EASTERN ZHOU, LATE WARRING STATES PERIOD, 4th-3rd CENTURY BC雙龍頭紋玉璜 -東周戰國時代晚期, 公元前4世紀-前3世紀

WIDTH: 12.5 cm寬 12.5 厘米

This is another beautifully carved huang 璜that represents two powerful dragons that share the same arched body. The gentle arch is quite different than the pronounced semi-circle of JAK917-035 in this auction, but the decoration, identical on both sides, is similar: it is composed of carved and incised lines that define the dragons’ facial features, while the bodies are covered with small, carved spirals. The heads, carved in profile at each extremity, have curled upturned snouts, eyes, fangs and tufts of hair, and a cut-out area that describes the open mouths with a carved, overlapping fang. The lower jaws are pointed, with two stylized tufts of hair protruding from the chin, while the two longer tufts that extend from the dragons’ horns, or ears, separate the head from the bodies: these are decorated with two finely incised lines on the upper tuft and many tiny parallel lines on the “ear”. Very finely carved grooves outline the eyes, fangs, tufts of hair and the borders of the jade, accentuating the curves of the carving. In the upper curve of the body, there is also a central hole, drilled from both sides, from which the pendant was hung.

The pendant is carved from a translucent white jade that has a very slight brownish tinge, except for the areas of the dragons’ heads, which have turned an opaque white from calcification. There are also traces of soil and some scattered areas of red pigmentation and other greyish, whitish markings, due to alterations in the stone.

Literature comparison/Archaeological sites: A similar huang pendant with finely detailed dragon heads is in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., accession number F1932.38. Compare also a larger huang published in F. Salviati, 4000 Years of Chinese Archaic Jades, Edition Zacke, Vienna 2017, no.266 and another one from the Samuel and Myrna Myers collection in .P. Desroches (ed.), Two Americans in Paris. A Quest for Asian Art, Paris 2016, no.116.

Expertise: Prof. Dr. Filippo Salviati

From an Austrian collection奧地利老佔有

All jades in this catalogue have been professionally examined, authenticated and described by Prof. Fillipo Salviati. Professor Salviati teaches Chinese and Korean art at Sapienza University in Rome, in the Italian Institute of Oriental Studies. He is a world expert on archaic Chinese jades, having released multiple publications and being cited by renowned auction houses such as Sotheby’s.