Chinese Works of ArtHUANG WITH PATTERNS OF CLOUD-SHAPED CURLS
Jade
China, Eastern Zhou, Spring and Autumn, 6th - 5th Century BC

卷雲紋玉璜- 東周, 春秋, 公元前6世紀-前5世紀

A huang in form of one third of a circle, both ends are composed with heads of archaic kui dragons, which look stout and angular. Dominant is, however, the relief engraved with great precision presenting unmistakable archaic motifs in “C”- or “S”-form with ends that are twisted spirally. Particularly fascinating is the compact, on both sides same and spiritedly executed composition. The design consists of small, fat scrolls and stylized dragon heads in low relief which cover the entire surface of the jade. The milky green-grey jade is entirely light-green in focused backlighting, excepting the yellow to dark areas with weathering due to age. In part distinct age characteristics, partly almost unaffected condition.

Jades adorned with this pattern have been found in sites that are spread over a very large area which stretches from Shanxi in the north to Henan in central China and to Hubei and Jiangsu in the south. The comma-like motifs carved on this huang match those used to decorate a number of Eastern Zhou jades excavated from tomb 270 at the Fenshuiling site, Changzhi city, Shanxi Province, which display the same variegated vocabulary of scrolls seen on the present one.

This pendant is published in Filippo Salviati 4000 YEARS OF CHINESE ARCHAIC JADES Edition Zacke, Vienna 2017, no. 191

Provenance: From an old Austrian-Hungarian collection

WIDTH 13,6 CM 寬13,6 厘米