A set of three archaic jade 'dragon' pendants, Eastern Zhou dynasty, Spring and Autumn period| 東周春秋 蟠虺紋虎紋璜兩件 及 虎紋墜飾一件

Ku Ngar Antique Limited, Hong Kong, 10th November 2000.

古雅閣，香港，2000年11月10日

The beast heads on the two ends of the huang pendent is a common motif found on Western Zhou and Eastern Zhou objects. The identity of the beast remains unknown today, some believe it is a dragon, and some say tiger. Huang pendants of this form and pattern design seem to have been produced since the Spring and Autumn period. Compare a set of huang pendants excavated from the tomb of Zhao Qin of the Spring and Autumn period in Jinsheng, Luoyang, illustrated in Zhongguo yuqi quanji [Complete collection of Chinese jades], Shijiazhuang, 2005, vol. 3, pl. 32-34. Huang pendants of similar type were also popular in the Warring States period, see two examples in the Zhejiang Antique Archaeology Institute, published in ibid., pl. 193.

三件同屬於一套。長短二璜左右皆成虎首，方鼻上卷，齒牙凌利，毛髮虎斑以細線勾勒成細綯，全身淺浮雕隱起蟠虺紋，墜飾上下穿孔，虎首上下俯仰，亦飾細綯勾雲紋，外緣皆出齒脊。

璜左右之獸首或云龍或云虎，兩周常見，尚無定論。此類璜出齒脊，左右獸首，全身隱起勾雲紋狀蟠虺，春秋以來似有定制。洛陽金勝村春秋趙卿墓出土一套多件類似玉璜，可比較之，見《中國玉器全集》，石家莊，2005年，卷3，圖版32至34。戰國時期亦頗常見同類玉璜，如浙江省文物考古研究所藏兩件玉璜，與本套如出一轍，見前書，圖版193。