Two calcified jade 'deer' plaques, Western Zhou dynasty | 西周 玉鹿兩件

C. T. Loo, Paris (left deer).

Collection of David David-Weill (1871-1952).

Sotheby's Paris, 16th December 2015, lot 2.

盧芹齋，巴黎（左鹿）

大衛．大衛威爾（1871-1952年）收藏

巴黎蘇富比2015年12月16日，編號2

Left deer:

Paul Pelliot, Jades Archaïques de la Chine appartenant a Monsieur C. T. Loo, Paris, 1925, pl. XXX. 1.

左鹿：

伯希和，《Jades Archaïques de la Chine appartenant à M.C T. Loo》，巴黎，1925年，圖版 XXX.1

Jessica Rawson notes that small carvings in the shape of animals form one of the principal categories of Shang and early Western Zhou jades, made in large numbers and in a variety of forms, see Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, p. 205. Small pendants in the form of stags or deer appear to be popular in the early and mid-Western Zhou period as numerous finds illustrate, compare, for example, similar deer-shaped pendants discovered at Rujiazhuang, Baoji, Shaanxi, published in Baoji Yu guo mudi / Yu State Cemeteries in Baoji, Beijing, 1988, vol. 2, pls 183.1-4 and 184.1-4. 

The two jade deers from the David-Weill Collection are depicted in a crouching position, one of them with its head turned and glancing back. Rawson suggests that this pose may have been influenced by designs from Western Asia, see Rawson, op.cit., p. 232. 

此類小型片狀動物玉雕是商代至西周早期見大量製作，且形式繁多，是此時期玉雕主要類型之一，見傑西卡·羅森，《Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing》，倫敦，1995 年，頁205。以動物或鹿為主題的玉飾在西周早期和中期較為常見，可以考古出土相似之例為證，如發在陝西寶雞如家莊發現的鹿形玉飾，見《寶雞虞國墓》，北京，1988 年，卷二，圖 183.1-4 和184.1-4。David-Weill 收藏的兩件玉鹿呈蹲臥狀，其中一鹿回首而望。羅森認為這種姿勢可能受到來自西亞的設計的影響，見傑西卡·羅森，前引書，頁 232。