A BROWN JADE TUBULAR BEAD PROBABLY WARRING STATES PERIOD

of cylindrical form, carved around the exterior with formalised kuilong motifs, the stone of a deep brown colour with some dark veining

Acquired in Hong Kong in 1972.

This white jade tube, suffused with brownish red colouring has a hole drilled from both ends and connected in the centre, opening big at one end and small at the other. It has a lustrous quality and is quite polished and glossy. Decorated with four sections of designs, each section has four squares, and inside each square is carved in low relief interlocking kui-dragon designs, all of which have eyes engraved. A similar jade tube from Tomb 3 in Zhongshan state, Pingshan, Hebei Province, is illustrated in Gu Fang, Zhongguo chutu yuqi quanji [The Complete Collection of Jades Unearthed in China], vol. 1, Beijing, 2005, p. 169. Compare also similar tubes from Tomb 7 at the burial site at Luhe, Lucheng, Shanxi Province, illustrated in Gu Fang, Zhongguo chutu yuqi quanji [The Complete Collection of Jades Unearthed in China], vol. 3, Beijing, 2005, p. 217.