A SMALL PALE CELADON JADE ‘HUMAN FIGURE’ ORNAMENT, HUANG, WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTYChina, 1100-771 BC. The arched ornament is neatly carved in relief depicting two human faces on both ends, with intertwining dragon bodies. The translucent stone is of a pale celadon tone with one larger area of creamy-white calcification as well as cloudy white inclusions and dark specks.Provenance: From the estate of Ivar Björnberg. One side with an old label, ‘76’. The low collector’s number on the present lot indicates a rather early acquisition date of the present lot, given themonly known size of Björnberg’splete collection, probably around 1980/90 or even earlier. Ivar Björnberg (1934-2021) was a noted art director from Stockholm, Sweden. He was friends with Victoria Lindström, a reputed dealer and collector of Chinese art, also based in Stockholm at the time. Björnberg worked at her gallery at a young age and when he eventually started his own collection, she mentored him. His collection was an academic one and it showed his keen eye, discerning taste and great passion for the aesthetics of Chinese art.Condition: Very good condition with ancient wear, tiny chips and nibbles which have smoothened over the centuries, signs of weathering and erosion. The surface of this jade feels remarkably soft and unctuous, a result of centuries of handling and appreciation, indicating an excavation that took place a long time ago.Weight: 23.3 gDimensions: Length 8.8 cmExpert’s note: The unusual motif on this ornament, depicting two human faces with intertwining dragon bodies, can be found on a small number of Western Zhou jades. The closest example is a jade huang with similar human-dragon motifs in the Palace Museum Collection, illustrated in Zhongguo yuqi quanji 2, Shang & Western Zhou, Shijiazhuang, 1993, plate 292. A rectangular jade ornament, in the Palace Museum Collection, bears a related single human-dragon motif and is illustrated ibidem, plate 280. Alsopare a closely related but significantly more calcified jade huang from the Yangdetang collection, illustrated in Teng Shu-p’ing, Collectors’ Exhibition of Archaic Chinese Jades, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1999, plate 129, and a related jade huang depicting two intertwining dragons with similarlybed hair, dating to the early Western Zhou period, excavated in Tengxian in Shandong province, and illustrated in Zhongguo meishu quanji 9, yuqi, Beijing, 1986, plate 83.Auction resultparison:Type: Closely relatedAuction: Christie’s Hong Kong, 29 November 2017, lot 2746Price: HKD 7,060,000 or approx.EUR 903,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writingDescription: A very rare white jade ‘human figure’ ornament, huang, Western Zhou dynastyExpert remark:pare the closely related form and decoration with similar human faces and intertwining dragon bodies. Note the larger size (11.1 cm). Also note the remarka