A very rare white jade 'dragon' pendant, xi, Western Han dynasty | 西漢 白玉圓雕螭龍觿

A Hong Kong private collection, assembled during the 1970-80s, by repute.

傳香港私人收藏，1970至80年代集成

The present pendant known as xi, is striking for its unusual high-relief design of the chi dragon flying through the low-relief carved clouds, with legs outstretched and pushing forward, and the body and head curves around to the other side to burst into full relief, while the lower body and tail curves back around the end, creating a three-dimensional sense to the jade carving.

Xi pendants of this type were usually made as pairs and found in elite tombs dated to the Eastern Zhou to Han dynasty.  Dragon-shaped pendants were developed from the late Warring States period to early Western Han dynasty. The practical function such pendant is unclear, but according to the classical literature such as Shijing or Book of Songs and Lunyu or The Analects, it would have been presented and worn by a noble man to bless him with the wisdom and ability to “resolve trouble and chaos “. 

Compare a similar dragon pendant excavated from the tomb of the King of Chu , with a similar design of the dragon emerging into full relief, see The Great Han King of Chu: Cultural Artifacts from the Tomb of the Western Han King of Chu in Xuzhou, Beijing, 2005, p.298. See another example, Western Han dynasty, illustrated by Gu Fang, The Pictorial Handbook of Ancient Chinese Jades, Beijing, 2007, p.240. See also another related example in the Taipei Palace Museum, illustrated in Art in Quest of Heaven and Truth – Chinese Jades Through the Ages, Taipei, 2012, p.84, pl.5-5-17;

白玉稍帶紅沁，抛光精美，浮雕一隻螭龍翺翔穿梭在雲氣之中，觿背面以平面淺浮雕刻畫螭龍的後半身，前半身則從觿的寬大一端折身探出，成爲三維空間的圓雕，一爪前蹬，張口虎嘯，姿態勇猛，勢不可擋。其極盡奇異巧工的藝術成就，在已知漢代的圓雕作品中屈指可數。

《詩經》曰：「芃蘭之枝，童子佩觿」，如果說巧工精良的玉觿用以「解結」的具體功用退失，則其象徵性的意義便越來越重要；另據儒家經典《說苑》 〈脩文〉，「能治煩決亂者佩觿，能射御者佩韘」，也就是說觿有著將糾結起來的事物「迎刃而解」的寓意。

西漢時期的玉觽多有穿孔，基本為裝飾玉，除用於組玉佩之外，亦可作為單體佩飾，此龍鳳形觽即為一例。參看一件徐州西漢楚王墓出土的韘形佩，其螭龍立體圓雕手法與本品類似，見《大漢楚王：徐州西汉楚王陵墓文物辑萃》，北京，2005，頁298。另見安徽省巢湖市北山頭西漢墓出土一件龍形玉觽，古方，《中國古玉器圖典》，北京，2007年，頁240。台北故宮博物院藏一件戰國晚期至西漢早期的鳳形佩，見《敬天格物：中國歷代玉器》，台北，2012年，頁84，圖5-5-17。