A superb and rare yellowish-white jade ornament in the shape of a bird with tall crest, Mid - late Shang dynasty | 商中晚期 黃白玉弧形高冠鳥飾

The present lot is exceptional, firstly for its unusual large size and thickness, and secondly for the highly skilful workmanship demonstrated by the finely carved lines to accentuate the crest on the head, in contrast to the simple yet evocative carving to represent a powerful and stylised bird.

Like other bird pendants of the late Shang period, the present lot has a short hooked beak, prominent chest and bent legs. The crest on the head sweeps back and then turned inwards ending as a hook, in contracts to that on a closely related but smaller green jade bird pendant excavated in 1976 from the Tomb of Fu Hao, Yinxu, Anyang, Henan province, with upright crest, see Queen, Mother and General: 40th Anniversary of Excavating the Shang Tomb of Fu Hao: Jade Article, Beijing, 2016, p. 44. Compare also four other related examples excavated from the Tomb of Fu Hao, all of slightly smaller size and with a more simplified design in linear relief to the crest on the head, illustrated in ibid., Beijing, 2016, pp. 41-43. See also a thick jade bird pendant but with a shorter crest, in the collection of Sir Joseph Hotung, illustrated by Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jades from the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, p. 218, no. 12:14.

青白玉帶黃綠色沁，弧形。鉤喙，圓眼，高冠後垂，冠邊緣出扉棱，上有圓孔，做昂首立狀。鳥冠以細密陰線刻畫以飾羽毛，器身則以減地起陽線之法而飾，兩種工藝相結合，亦精亦陽，實為罕見。

此玉鳥飾尺寸較同類商代玉雕片飾較大且更厚。河南安陽殷墟婦好墓中層出土鳥形片雕與本品類似，，皆以動物側面輪廓而表現，但刀工大部分皆以陰線雙鉤之法而飾，且尺寸一般不會超過十公分，如河南安陽商代婦好墓出土，現藏於中國社會科學院考古研究所的一件玉鸚鵡，見《王后母親女將：紀念殷墟婦好墓考古發掘四十周年：玉器篇》，北京，2016年，頁44。另見四件婦好墓出土的玉鸚鵡片飾，均較小且稍薄，且羽冠部門的處理更為簡化，同上註，頁41-43。何鴻卿爵士舊藏一件商代青玉鳥，亦較厚，但鳥冠較短，見羅森，《Chinese Jades from the Neolithic to the Qing》，倫敦，1995年，頁218，編號12:14。