Jade. China, Eastern Han dynasty, 25-220 AD

This piece of jewelry is very lively in design and features two phoenixes that share a body and each have curved beaks. Beneath them is a chilong, a smooth dragon with a finely executed head whose body is divided in two and decorated with volutes. The delicately engraved decoration is composed of lines and gridded sections. Bright, green-white jade, the birds are predominantly dark brown and red when back-lit.
WIDTH 7,3 CM, THICKNESS MAX. 4 MM
Condition: Some calcification, very well preserved.
Provenance: From a Canadian collection.

Comparative literature/Archaeological sites: This openwork ornament, carved in light green jade with brown and whitened areas, was probably suspended together with other jades. The symmetric design is formed by the confronted heads of two phoenixes with crests and protrusions carved on the top, and a double-bodied dragon at the bottom.
A similar ornament, in the Chin-hua-t’ang collection, is published in Deng Shuping, Qun yu bie cang xuji羣玉别è—續集 (1999 collectors'exhibition of archaic Chinese jades), National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1999, no.212.



All jades in this catalogue have been professionally examined, authenticated and dated by Univ. 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.

Expertise: Wolfmar Zacken