Jade. China, Eastern Zhou, 5th - 4th century BC 雙龍紋玉璜 - 東周, 公元前4世紀-前3世紀 This finely carved jade is another example of an ornate Eastern Zhou sinuous dragon-shaped pendant with curled appendages. The curl at the top centre of the body, where the suspension hole is drilled, takes the shape of a long-crested phoenix head in profile. The head of the dragon, with an open mouth, is turned back towards the phoenix: a large t-shaped extension fills the space delimited by the central bend of the body that terminates in a curled tail and is decorated with raised curls. Although heavily altered with various areas of light and dark brown and white patches on both sides, there are still parts of the ornament that reveal the original lovely translucent pale green colour of the jade. One of the closest comparable examples comes from one of the accompanying graves of tomb no.1 in the royal cemetery of the Zhongshan state at Nanqiji, in Pingshan county, Hebei province: see 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.215. Provenance: From an Austrian collection LENGTH 12.4 CM - WIDTH 7 CM 長 12.4 厘米 -寬7 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.