A VERY RARE JADE 'HUMAN-DRAGON' PENDANT WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY | 西周 人龍合璧玉珮

The late Shang dynasty period saw a revolutionary change in aesthetic style in ritual bronzes and jades. Among the novelties were jade plaques decorated with humanoid motif, such as a pendant in the form of a crowned human with bent limbs unearthed from the tomb of Fu Hao (c. 1200 BC), included in the exhibition Queen, Mother, General: 40th Anniversary of Excavating the Shang Tomb of Fu Hao, Beijing, 2016, p. 7 (1976AXTM5:470).

The present pendant, reminiscent of the Shang prototypes, ingeniously incorporates two human heads and two dragons on the upper section, atop curled-up human legs terminating in claws and a further dragon with a coiled tail. See a similarly reticulated jade plaque recovered from the tomb of the Marquis of State Jin, Quwo, Shanxi, decorated with a single human and three dragons, published in The Complete Collection of Jades Unearthed in China, vol. 3: Shanxi, Beijing, 2005, pl. 116. Although a variety of human-dragon plaques can be found in public collections across China, few are in private hands and examples made of translucent jade such as the present piece are even rarer. Compare a related huang-shaped ornament from the Dongxi Studio collection, different in form but of comparable quality, sold at Christie’s New York, 17th March 2016, lot 911.

In the Western Zhou dynasty, this type of plaque probably formed parts of ritual necklace sets; see an elaborate set with a related plaque excavated from Qiangjiacun, Fufeng, Shaanxi, exhibited in The Cultural Grandeur of the Western Zhou Dynasty, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2014, cat. no. 119.

商代晚期，青銅、玉石禮器一時變化萬象，推陳出新，其中有曲膝神人玉飾一類，如婦好墓出土鳳冠神人珮，見《王后，母親，女將：紀念殷墟婦好墓考古發掘四十週年》，北京，2016年，頁7（1976AXTM5:470）。此珮採美玉、琢神人，見商代餘韻，採曲膝之姿，利爪為足，伴綴三龍，頂添一人。參考山西曲沃縣晉侯墓出土相類人形飾，透雕三龍一人，收錄在《中國出土玉器全集》，卷3：山西，北京，2005年，圖版116。此類玉飾，形姿不一，中國多地博物館均有藏蓄，但私人珍存寥寥可數，玉質可與此媲美者，更罕。東西軒舊藏一璜形人龍合璧珮，形雖異，質相類，2016年3月17日在紐約佳士得易手，編號911。

同類之物，西周時或屬組珮玉飾，見陝西扶風強家村出土四璜聯珠組玉珮，中央有一相類玉飾，見台北故宮展覽《赫赫宗周：西周文化特展》，台北，2014年，編號119。