From the end of the Warring States period to the Han dynasty, the scale and quality of jade production reached an unprecedented level. Many historians and connoisseurs regard it as China's first high point in the development and art of jade. Carvings from this period typically possess a combination of intricacy in detail and boldness of design, enabled greatly by technological improvements with bronze implements and tools. Stylistically, designs and compositions often included long sinuous creatures in openwork with ornate surface decoration of linked scrolls. The present lot is an excellent example of this. Furthermore, its remarkable asymmetrical ground of scrolls diverts from the orchestrated symmetry of earlier carvings and imparts a greater sense of movement and dynamic rhythm. |The chi dragon depicted on the present plaque appears strikingly feline in its elegantly striding body and long swaying tail. Scholars argue that such 'S'-shaped cat-like dragons derive from feline motifs on Central and Western Asian objects, see J.Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1996, pp.67 and 310. It is evident however that jade carvers elaborated such 'Western motifs' in new ways and effectively strengthened these feline images to appear more dragon-like in nature. The current plaque is an excellent example of this with scrolling wings and curved bifurcated limbs.|Compare a jade sword fitting with dragon and phoenix design, Han dynasty, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum: Jade 4, Beijing, 2011, p.77, no.63; see another jade plaque with chi dragon motif carved in relief, illustrated in ibid., p.170, no.218.|玉質青白，表面有褐色沁斑。玉佩呈梯形，上小下大，微向內彎曲呈弧形。佩身採用透雕及浮雕技法，雕刻一螭龍呈S形盤旋，龍尾浮雕扭絲紋，延伸至玉佩另一側，使整個畫面極具張力，玉佩邊沿則以線具透雕卷葉花卉，佩兩面則以陰線刻花卉紋及雲穀紋。|有西方學者認為此類對螭龍貌似貓科動物的表現手法或是從西方由西亞及中亞傳入並對中原藝術產生影響，見J.Rawson，《Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing》，倫敦，頁67及310。此件玉佩極為特殊，其採用浮雕技法雕刻螭龍的方法使得裝飾極具立體感，這類雕刻技藝多用在漢代的劍飾用玉上，而玉佩則不多見。見北京故宮博物院藏一件漢代玉龍鳳紋劍珌，著錄於《故宮博物院藏品大系:玉器編4:漢魏晉南北朝》，北京，2001年，頁77，編號63；另參看一件漢代玉螭紋飾件，雖然沒有透雕工藝，但亦是採用浮雕工藝雕刻，見同著錄，頁170，編號218。