Period:Western Zhou dynasty Production date:11thC BC-8thC BC
Materials:jade, cinnabar (traces), soil (traces),
Technique:carved, polished, drilled,
Subjects:dragon
Dimensions:Height: 6.80 centimetres Width: 3.20 centimetres
Description:
Columnar bead pendant of yellow jade with calcification and traces of earth and cinnabar.
IMG
![图片[1]-pendant; bead BM-2022-3034.136-China Archive](https://chinaarchive.net/Western Zhou dynasty/Jades/53_.jpg)
Comments:The polish is variable with some ares finished to a high gloss. This tubular bead, gently waisted, is carved with two spiralling bands enclosing dragons in profile. The dragons are depicted with prominent snouts and eyes, and one dragon is represented with taloned feet and scrolling tail feathers. The other dragon is decorated with S-scroll wing and elongated scales. The bead is drilled through the centre and the perforation tapers towards the narrower end. See Loo 1950, Ip Yee 1983, Salmony 1938, and New York, 1939. This tubular bead, which narrows slightly at the waist, is carved with an exceptionally fine design of dragons in profile in two parallel spiralling bands. The various depths and angles of the lines create a design of great detail and vibrance. From the orientation of the dragons it is possible to infer that the wider part of the bead was at the top, as with the beads illustrated in the previous entry. Long beads of this form are known from Shang sites, including the tomb of Fu Hao, although her beads are undecorated. Only a few decorated beads have been excavated, among them examples from Shanxi Hongdong Yongning. Similar beads of high quality are in the Art Institute of Chicago and the Sackler Collections. As mentioned in the previous entry, beads seem to have been handed down through many generations and only at certain periods were they buried in significant numbers. See Rawson 1995, p.240, cat.no.14.3.
Materials:jade, cinnabar (traces), soil (traces),
Technique:carved, polished, drilled,
Subjects:dragon
Dimensions:Height: 6.80 centimetres Width: 3.20 centimetres
Description:
Columnar bead pendant of yellow jade with calcification and traces of earth and cinnabar.
IMG
Comments:The polish is variable with some ares finished to a high gloss. This tubular bead, gently waisted, is carved with two spiralling bands enclosing dragons in profile. The dragons are depicted with prominent snouts and eyes, and one dragon is represented with taloned feet and scrolling tail feathers. The other dragon is decorated with S-scroll wing and elongated scales. The bead is drilled through the centre and the perforation tapers towards the narrower end. See Loo 1950, Ip Yee 1983, Salmony 1938, and New York, 1939. This tubular bead, which narrows slightly at the waist, is carved with an exceptionally fine design of dragons in profile in two parallel spiralling bands. The various depths and angles of the lines create a design of great detail and vibrance. From the orientation of the dragons it is possible to infer that the wider part of the bead was at the top, as with the beads illustrated in the previous entry. Long beads of this form are known from Shang sites, including the tomb of Fu Hao, although her beads are undecorated. Only a few decorated beads have been excavated, among them examples from Shanxi Hongdong Yongning. Similar beads of high quality are in the Art Institute of Chicago and the Sackler Collections. As mentioned in the previous entry, beads seem to have been handed down through many generations and only at certain periods were they buried in significant numbers. See Rawson 1995, p.240, cat.no.14.3.
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