China, 475-221 BC. Finely carved in openwork, the sinuous dragon turning its head turned back towards its snaking body, carved overall in relief with raised spirals and with a single aperture on the back for suspension. The translucent stone with a fine yellow tone and russet shadings at the edges.

Provenance: From a private collector of Chinese jades in the United Kingdom, who over the last ten years has been supplementing the jade collection he inherited from his father, assembled in London during the 1970s.
Condition: Good condition commensurate with age, expected old wear, signs of weathering and erosion, minute nibbles, natural inclusions and fissures, possibly with losses to edges which have been smoothened.

Weight: 15.5 g
Dimensions: Width 6.4 cm

Jade, known as the 'Stone of Heaven', represents wisdom, beauty, courage, and perfection. This combined with the powerful iconography of the dragon, creates a strong symbol of luck and good fortune. Jades in this form have a long tradition of being used as ritualistic objects, in particular tokens of rank and symbolic aids for the celestial journey thought to be undertaken by the dead. In the Zhou dynasty, the number of ritualistic jades increased significantly in burial sites, as multiple plaques, pendants, and beads were draped over the face and body of the deceased.

Literature comparison:
Compare a related S-shaped dragon pendant with a bird's-head tail, formerly in the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection and now in the Harvard Art Museums, object number 1943.50.468, illustrated by Max Loehr in Ancient Chinese Jades, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, 1975, pp. 287 and 293, no. 427, which has a similar pointed ear, as well as comma spirals on the body, but is somewhat more elaborate than the present pendant.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie's Hong Kong, 30 May 2017, lot 2719
Price: HKD 1,860,000 or approx. EUR 239,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing.
Description: A white jade dragon-form pendant, Warring States period
Expert remark: Compare the similar style with raised spiral decorations. Note the size (13 cm) and different color.