A JADE ‘ELEPHANT’ PENDANT, LATE SHANG DYNASTY, ANYANG PHASE
China, 13th-11th century BC. Thick flattened jade plaque, finely carved in the form of an elephant with an upward-curling trunk and a slightly open mouth, with thread relief and incised lines to express the eyes, ears, and tail, as well as geometric decorations. The translucent stone is of a white tone with areas of creamy-white calcification, cloudy inclusions, and few dark specks. The tip of the trunk has a small ‘natural’ aperture for suspension.


Provenance:
Collection of Harry Geoffrey Beasley (1881-1939) and thence by descent to his widow Irene Beasley. Collection of Alfred William Cowperthwaite (1890-1964), acquired from the above c. 1939 and thence by descent in the same family. Harry Geoffrey Beasley (1881-1939) was a British anthropologist and museum curator who developed an important ethnographic collection during the early 20th century that is now held in various British museums. With his wife Irene, Beasley set up the Cranmore Ethnographical Museum which eventually held more than 6,000 objects of ethnographical interest. The Beasleys collected objects from across Europe, buying from auction houses and local museums to expand the collection, which contained material from the Pacific, Asia, Africa, and Northwestern America. Beasley wrote numerous articles for anthropological journals and was considered an expert in his field. He died in 1939 and his collection was stored with the British Museum collections during the war, which was fortunate, as the Cranmore Museum was destroyed by bombing. After the war, substantial portions of the collection were passed to the British Museum, the Royal Museum in Edinburgh, the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, the University of Cambridge, the Pitt Rivers Museum, and the Merseyside County Museum. Other pieces, such as the present lot, were sold by his widow and, after her death in 1974, by their daughters. Alfred William Cowperthwaite (1890-1964) was a contributor to the Cranmore Museum and became good friends with Harry Beasley. Shortly after Harry Beasley’s death, he acquired a number of objects from Irene Beasley, including the present lot.

Condition:
Excellent condition with extensive wear, microscopic soil encrustations and remnants of ancient pigment.

Weight: 12.3 g
Dimensions: Length 4.8 cm


During the Shang dynasty
, the Central Plain of China enjoyed a warm and humid climate and provided a suitable habitat for elephants. The archaeological ruins of Anyang, one of the Shang capitals, yielded large amounts of ivory and elephant bones, indicating that the Shang nobility sacrificed elephants in their rituals. The Lüshi Chunqiu (Spring and Autumn Annals of Master Lü) records the Shang people’s taming of elephants: “The Shang people trained elephants, which they used to oppress the Eastern Yi people. The Duke of Zhou consequently chased them with his armies to the Jiangnan region.”


Literature comparison:

Compare a related jade figure of an elephant, dated Shang dynasty, 12th-11th century BC, 7.3 cm long, exhibited by J. J. Lally & Co. in Ancient Chinese Jade: From the Neolithic to the Han, 10 March – 2 April 2016, no. 21. Compare two related jade elephants carved in the round, excavated from the tomb of Fu Hao, measuring 6-6.5 cm in length and 3-3.3 cm in height, illustrated in 'Zhongguo gu qingtongqi xuan', Beijing, 1976, pl. 91. One of these elephants is also illustrated in 'Zhongguo meishu quanji, Diaosu bian', vol. 1, Beijing, 1988, p. 51. Compare the small jade figure of an elephant unearthed from tomb 1728 at the Shang dynasty royal cemetery site in Xibeigang, Henan province, illustrated by Lee (ed.) in 'Yinxu chutu qiwu xuancui (Selected Works Unearthed from Yinxu)', Taipei, 2009, p. 216, no. 201; and the larger jade elephant of similar form unearthed from tomb 1567 at the same royal cemetery, illustrated by Lee (ed.), op. cit., pp. 196-197, no. 175. Compare also the jade figure of an elephant simply carved as a small free-standing silhouette in the collection of the Tianjin City Art Museum illustrated in 'Tianjin shi yishu bowuguan cang yu (Jades from the Tianjin City Art Museum)', Hong Kong, 1993, no. 51.


Auction result comparison:

Type: Related
Auction: Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 28 November 2019, lot 706
Price: HKD 250,000 or approx.
EUR 32,000,
converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A brown jade ‘elephant’ pendant, late Shang dynasty, Anyang phase
Expert remark: Compare the related form with similar upward-curling trunk and slightly open mouth. Note the different color, lack of thread relief, and the size (2.9 cm).




商末安陽時期玉象佩飾

中國，公元前十三至十一世紀。玉料厚實，象鼻上卷，嘴微張，用浮雕和陰刻表現眼睛、耳朵和尾巴，並有幾何圖案紋飾。白色調半透明玉料，帶有白色鈣化區域、絮狀物和少量黑色斑點。象鼻尖端有一個天然小孔，用於懸掛。


來源：
Harry Geoffrey Beasley (1881-1939)收藏，他逝世後由其遺孀Irene Beasley保存；Alfred William Cowperthwaite (1890-1964)，約於1939年購於上述收藏，之後在同一家族保存至今。Harry Geoffrey Beasley (1881-1939) 是一位英國人類學家和博物館館長，他在二十世紀初建立了一個重要的民族志收藏，現在收藏在英國的各個博物館中。Beasley和他的妻子Irene一起建立了Cranmore民族志博物館，該博物館最終收藏了 6,000 多件民族志方面的物品。Beasley 收集了來自歐洲各地的物品，從拍賣行和當地博物館購買以擴大收藏範圍，其中包含來自太平洋、亞洲、非洲和美國西北部的資料。Beasley為人類學期刊撰寫了大量文章，被公認爲是該領域的專家。他於 1939 年去世，他的藏品幸虧在戰爭期間被存放在大英博物館裏，而Cranmore博物館被轟炸摧毀。戰後，大部分藏品被轉移到大英博物館、愛丁堡皇家博物館、劍橋大學考古與人類學博物館、Pitt Rivers博物館和Merseyside County博物館。其他收藏，例如現在的拍品，由他的遺孀出售，在她 1974 年去世後，由他們的女兒出售。Alfred William Cowperthwaite (1890-1964) 曾是Cranmore 民族志博物館重要支持人，也曾是 Harry Beasley的好友。在Harry Beasley去世不久，他從Irene Beasley 處購買了一些收藏，包括此件拍品。

品相：
狀況極佳，有大量磨損、細微土壤結殼和古時顏料殘留物。

重量：12.3 克
尺寸：長 4.8 厘米


商朝時
，中國中原氣候溫暖濕潤，為大象提供了適宜的生活居住環境。商都城之一的安陽考古遺址出土了大量象牙和象骨，說明商代貴族在祭祀儀式中曾以大象為祭品。《呂氏春秋》記載商人服象，“商人服象，為虐於東夷。周公以帥逐之，至於江南。”


文獻比較：

比較一件相近的商代公元前 12 至 11 世紀玉象佩飾，長 7.3 厘米，由 J. J. Lally & Co. 在《中國古代玉器：從新石器時代到漢代》中展出，2016年3月10日至4月2日，編號21。比較婦好墓出土的兩件相關的圓雕玉象，長6-6.5厘米，高3-3.3厘米，圖見《中國古青銅器軒》，北京，1976年，圖版91。其中一隻玉象也可見《中國美術全集‧雕塑編》，第 1 卷，北京，1988年，頁51。比較河南省西北崗商代皇家陵園遺址 1728 年出土的小玉象，李永迪主編，《殷墟出土器物選粹》，台北，2009 年 ，頁216，編號201； 以及在同一皇家陵園的 1567 號墓中出土的類似形狀的較大玉象，見同上書，頁196-197，編號175。比較天津市美術館藏品中簡單雕刻成獨立小剪影的玉象，見《天津博物館玉器》，香港，1993年 ， 編號51。


拍賣結果比較：

形制：相近
拍賣：香港蘇富比，2019年11月28日，lot 706
價格：HKD 250,000（相當於今日
EUR 32,000
）
描述：商末安陽時期褐玉象形珮
專家評論：比較相近的外形具有相似的向上捲曲的軀幹和微微張開的嘴。請注意顏色不同，也沒有螺旋紋和尺寸(2.9厘米)。