Beschreibung:

A UNIQUE LIGHT GREEN JADE DISC WITH AN INTRICATE OPENWORK DESIGN OF DRAGONS AND PHOENIXES Katalognummer: JAK0318-053 Jade China Western Han, 2nd century BC 鏤空龍鳳紋玉璧 - 西漢, 公元前2世紀 DIAMETER 9 CM 直徑9 厘米 This beautiful small disc in fine openwork is masterfully carved with a complex design made of dragons, phoenixes and other animals. Only the heads of the animals and a few limbs here and there are clearly recognizable: the bodies look somehow “dismembered” and are rendered as cloud shapes that evoke the unworldly nature of the creatures carved in the jade. A weaving band embellished with fine grooves unfolds through the entire decoration and seems to go through the bodies of the animals that are enriched with many curls and cloud-like volutes. The openwork decoration is framed by two slightly concave bands that are simply decorated with pairs of incised lines placed at regular intervals: the two stripes mark the outer edge of the disc and the circumference of the central hole. The jade is of a beautiful, vivid green colour with only minor whitish surface alterations: traces of soil are encrusted in some of the numerous cut-outs. The peculiar style of the openwork decoration matches that seen on similar rings, used as components of large pectorals reserved for the royal concubines, that were discovered in the 2nd century BC tomb of Zhao Mo, King of Nanyue, in Guangzhou, Guangdong province: see Yang Xiaoneng (ed.), The golden age of Chinese archaeology. Celebrated discoveries from the People`s Republic of China, New Haven and London 1999, no.144; and J. Lin, The search for immortality. Tomb treasures of Han China, Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge, Cambridge 2012, no.174. Startpreis 起始價: € 3.800 Schätzpreis 估計/估算: € 7.600 Expertise: Prof. Filippo Salviati From a Luxembourg collection All jades in this catalogue have been professionally examined, authenticated and described by Prof. Filippo 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. The microscopic images made available here, show that the weathering of the jade has occurred over a long period of time. Furthermore in the magnification one can reconstruct the workings of the jade. The two aforementioned criteria are exactly what counts in the authentication of archaic jades – the difficult and elaborate workmanship by hand and the subsequent weathering of the jade over centuries. The microscopic enlargements show how the patterns were ground out in many small steps, sometimes over months, and that the weathering actually occurs above the carvings, meaning it occurred after the jade was completed.