Jade. China, Eastern Zhou, 4th - 3rd century BC 龍鳳形玉佩- 東周, 公元前4世紀-前3世紀 This beautiful and complex pendant is carved as a dragon with a long, s-shaped body that is further embellished with curled and truncated appendages and bird heads: the design is so dense that is almost difficult to discern the various parts. The turned back head and the s-shaped curve define the dragon’s body, while the truncated appendages indicate the feet, tail and short wings. A short rectangular bar with carved scrolls at the centre connects one part of the curved body to the other. Three stylized bird heads, with curved beaks and rounded eyes, emerge from different points of the dragon: one is at the bottom, perched on the extension in the cut-out area below the arch in the body. A second, barely recognizable bird head is located near the tail, and the third, more detailed bird, rests on the dragon’s tail and its body merges with that of the dragon. The dragon is covered with small raised curls, while the appendages are decorated with parallel lines. The highly polished translucent light green jade has an almost yellowish tinge to it and is partially covered by a white patina due to the natural alteration of jade over time. This jade is almost identical to one discovered in 1979 in a late Eastern Zhou tomb, no.8, at Yanggong, Changfeng county, Anhui province. The jade from Anhui, approximately double in size, has the same structure and is carved in a similar variety of light green jade with analogous alterations located on various points of the jade. This famous jade pendant is published in several major Chinese books on jades: see for example Yang Boda (ed.), Zhongguo yuqi quanji: 3, Chunqiu Zhanguo 中国玉器全集/3/春秋战国 (Chinese Jades: 3, Spring and Autumn and Warring States), Hebei 1993, no.293; and Gu Fang, Zhongguo gu yuqi tu dian 中國古玉器圖典 (The pictorial handbook of ancient Chinese jades), Beijing 2007, p.192. Provenance: From an old Austrian collection LENGTH 10.5 CM - WIDTH 5.5 CM 長 10.5 厘米 -寬5.5 厘米 Expertise: Univ. Prof. Filippo Salviati All jades in this catalogue have been professionally examined, authenticated and dated by Univ. Prof. Filippo Salviati. Professor Salviati teaches Chinese and Korean art at Sapienza University in Rome, in the Italian Institute of Oriental Studies. He is a world expert on archaic Chinese jades, having released multiple publications and being cited by renowned auction houses such as Sotheby’s.