Early jade carvings depicting humans are rare and appear only intermittently as burial objects from the Neolithic period to Han dynasty. During the Eastern Zhou dynasty and following into the Han, human figures in jade were principally in the form of ornamental beads and pendants. The use of human figure motifs in a predominantly decorative context is a discernible departure from the more ritualistic or religious aspect related to the Neolithic period, Shang or Western Zhou dynasty tomb jade or bronze figurines. This change to the more functional and secular corresponds to the use of figures as supports for bronze frames and lamps, such as those excavated from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng. See J.Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1996, p.281.|While no figural pendant of the same decoration appears to have been published, elements of the design are comparable to extant figures. Consider the similar facial expression on a jade standing figure, with related almond-shaped eyes and a rounded nose carved in relief, Warring States period, in the Grenville L. Winthrop collection, in the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, accession no.1943.50.329. For an earlier dated example, see a jade figural pendant, Western Zhou, excavated from the tomb of Marquis Jin, currently in the Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, illustrated by Gu Fang, The Pictorial Handbook of Ancient Chinese Jades, Beijing, 2007, p.126. Compare also with a jade figural 'twins' pendant from an assemblage of pendants, beads and gold chain, Warring States period in the Freer Gallery of Art, accession number F1930.27a-k. |The ground of scrolls on the present lot also parallels the character of various cloud scroll patterns frequently incised on the period's bi discs and dragon pendants, albeit in a more elaborate fashion: Compare the thickly incised cloud scrolls on a jade 'dragon' pendant in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Art in Quest of Heaven and Truth – Chinese Jades Through the Ages, Taipei, 2012, p.98, pl.5-6-13; and a jade disc incised with a design of geometric cloud scrolls, illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum: Jade 3, Beijing, 2011, p.116, no.111.|玉質青灰色。雙人呈站立狀，橢圓形臉，以單線陰刻眼、眉、口部，翹鼻。身穿窄袖袍服，腰束身帶，雙人勾臂相連，各人形雙手交疊放在身前，袍服刻陰線紋。器體上部為抽象龍紋。整體紋飾複雜，構思精巧，體現了戰國時期嫻熟的製玉工藝。兩玉佩玉料相同，大小一致，紋飾一正一反，可合併成為一足玉佩，應是以「成形對開」法製作的成組器物。|人形的禮葬用玉最早至新石器時代出現，至商代時期出現側身人像和神人頭像兩種，側身人像多為片狀浮雕，西周時期出現人形玉佩，多呈扁平不規則的長條形，人物臉部不像商代那樣下凹，至西周晚期更趨向於平，至春秋戰國時期到漢代則出現平雕或圓雕的舞人玉佩。隨著時間推移，此類人形玉佩也由最初的陪葬、喪禮用玉逐步向裝飾用玉所轉變。|以此類陰刻雲穀相雜紋為飾的雙人形玉佩極為少見，其面部雕刻手法可與一件現存於美國哈佛大學福格藝術博物館的一件戰國玉人作比較，博物館編號1943.50.329。時代較早之例，見山西省曲沃縣晉侯墓出土的一件西周龍紋髮式人形玉佩，見古方，《中國古玉器圖典》，北京，2007年，頁126。另見美國華盛頓弗瑞爾美術館藏一組戰國早期組玉佩，其中包括一件雙人形舞人玉佩，博物館編號F1930.27a-k。|類似於本器的雲榖紋也見於其他戰國時期的器物上如玉璧和玉龍佩等，對比一件飾雲榖相雜紋的玉龍，其線條稍微粗大，現藏於台北國立故宮博物院，見《敬天格物：中國歷代玉器》，台北，2012年，頁98，圖版5-6-13；再參考北京故宮博物院藏一件玉雲紋環所飾之紋飾，見《故宮博物院藏品大系:玉器編3:春秋戰國》，北京，頁116，圖版111。