A pair of white jade 'dragon' pendants, huang, Late Western Zhou dynasty | 西周晚期 白玉龍紋雙聯璜

Acquired in Hong Kong, 1994-2002.

1994至2002年購於香港

The two huang pendants can be worn together as a huan ring, or hung as two individual pendants in a set of ornaments. The decoration resembles the style of Western Zhou. Compare an arc-shaped ‘dragon’ pendant dated to the later Western Zhou dynasty, excavated from the cemetery of the State of Guo in Sanmenxia, published in Gu Fang, The Complete Collection of Jades Unearthed in China, Beijing, 2005, vol. 5, p. 151. Jade huang pendants in similar form with squared edges at the two ends, pierced holes, and decorated with dragon scales were produced in the Shang dynasty. See a Shang-dynasty example with related jade quality and decorative elements with the present lot in the Shanxi Archaeology Institute, illustrated in Perfection in Ritual, Shanghai, 2022, pp. 244-245.

白玉質，兩件紋飾統一，呈對龍形，龍頭平角穿孔，身陰刻幾何形鱗甲，尾部玉身豎向打孔。 

此兩璜或可串聯成一環，又或墜於一套玉飾兩段，紋飾有西周風格。參考三門峽虢國貴族墓出土一件西周晚期龍形玉觽，頭部處理及身形紋飾頗似，見古方，《中國出土玉器全集》，北京，2005年，卷5，頁151。此類形制玉璜，兩頭方棱，前後穿孔，再陰刻龍紋鱗甲，早在商代便已出現，如山西省考古研究院藏一件商代玉飾，玉質及裝飾風格與本件似乎一脈相承，見《郁郁乎文哉：西周晉國玉器精品展》，上海，2022年，頁244至245。