Jade. China, Eastern Zhou, 4th - 3rd century BC 龍紋玉璜 - 東周, 公元前4世紀-前3世紀 This exquisite, very small huang璜 is beautifully carved with a detailed decoration that is quite amazing, especially considering its size. The central arched portion, where the jade is translucent, is decorated with finely incised, interconnected double spirals. As usual, the extremities are shaped as dragon heads: here they are particularly elongated, with dramatic slender snouts, slanting eyes and open mouths. The curls carved in openwork that embellish the underside are actually highly stylized upside-down phoenixes whose crests touch the dragons’ chins. The beautiful arch of the ornament is further accentuated by the various hues of the jade that follow the lines of the object: these range from light and dark brown to black, with some whitish patina from calcification. The alterations are almost symmetrical in location, leaving a central unaffected area where the lovely white jade has retained its colour and translucency. There are some tiny, slightly irregular areas along the upper curves, where the jade has altered, that are quite rough in comparison to the highly polished green area. Compare a larger huang with a similar decoration in the Palace Museum, Beijing: Zhou Nanquan, Gugong bowuyuan zang wenwu zhenpin quanji - Yuqi (shang) 故宮博物院藏文物珍品全集 ．玉器上 (The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Jadeware I), Hong Kong 1995, no.139. Provenance: From an old Austrian collection LENGTH 6.8 CM - WIDTH 2 CM 長6.8 厘米 -寬2 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.