PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION A SEMI-TRANSCLUCENT ARCHAISTIC CELADON JADE 'DRAGON SILK-WORM' DISCMing dynasty Of flattened form, the dragon softly carved and polished identically on each side in low relief with four folds carved to the length of the circular coiled body reminiscent of a silk worm but with a dragon head, the attractive stone with some lighter mottled inclusions, and a pale russet in places. 2 1/2in (6.3cm) across 明 仿古青玉龍璧 The present jade disc with the design of a coiled dragon biting its own tail is based on Shang dynasty prototypes; see an example from the Shang period in the British Museum, London, illustrated by Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jades from the Neolithic to the Qing , London, 1995, pp.208, pl.12:1. During the Ming dynasty, appreciating and collecting antiques was very much in vogue, as depicted in a painting by Du Jin (active circa 1465-1509), titled Wangu tu 'Enjoying Antiquities', in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, and demonstrated in a woodblock print of a related double-coiled dragon-shaped inkcake, by Fang Yulu in the 1596 edition of Fang shi mo pu , illustrated by Huei-chung Tsao, Jade: from Emperors to Art Deco , Paris, 2016, pp. 114-115, fig. 1 and no. 92. For related examples of jade discs in the form of a coiled dragon, dated to the Ming dynasty, see pendium of Collections in the Palace Museum: Jade 6 Ming Dynasty , Beijing, 2011, nos. 26 and 298; and see also a disc in the form of an archaistic double-dragon, 15th/16th century, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated by Huei-chung Tsao, ibid., pp.116, no. 93.N See an example sold at , Hong Kong, 28 Nov 2017, lot 5 and another celadon jade 'dragon-fish' disc sold at Sotheby's, London, 6 November 2019, lot 236.