Period:Western Zhou dynasty Production date:1000BC-901BC (circa)
Materials:jade, nephrite,
Technique:engraved, pigmented,
Subjects:bird dragon
Dimensions:Length: 13 centimetres
Description:
Handle (or sceptre) decorated with birds and dragons. Made of engraved and red-pigmented jade (decomposed white).
IMG
![图片[1]-sceptre; handle BM-1947-0712.496-China Archive](https://chinaarchive.net/Western Zhou dynasty/Jades/mid_00297732_001.jpg)
Comments:Rawson 1995:Handles decorated with incised birds and dragons were amongst the most elaborate of all Western Zhou dynasty jades. Several quite large examples are known, including pieces from Shaanxi Baoji Rujiazhuang. An exceptionally broad example in the Gugong Bowuyuan in Beijing has sufficient surface space for the bird motif to be fully displayed and there is a human-like head among the maze of lines. Indeed, bird and dragon designs are neither the most elaborate of these handle decorations nor probably the earliest. The bird motifs seem to have entered the Western Zhou jade repertoire with designs of human or human-like heads, which were to disappear shortly afterwards and only the bird and dragon motifs remained.Handles were one of the principal jade types to be abandoned before the beginning of the Eastern Zhou. Some early examples survived into later periods, however. Handles of the Shang and early Western Zhou have come from late Eastern Zhou tombs at Qufu in Shangdong province.
Materials:jade, nephrite,
Technique:engraved, pigmented,
Subjects:bird dragon
Dimensions:Length: 13 centimetres
Description:
Handle (or sceptre) decorated with birds and dragons. Made of engraved and red-pigmented jade (decomposed white).
IMG
Comments:Rawson 1995:Handles decorated with incised birds and dragons were amongst the most elaborate of all Western Zhou dynasty jades. Several quite large examples are known, including pieces from Shaanxi Baoji Rujiazhuang. An exceptionally broad example in the Gugong Bowuyuan in Beijing has sufficient surface space for the bird motif to be fully displayed and there is a human-like head among the maze of lines. Indeed, bird and dragon designs are neither the most elaborate of these handle decorations nor probably the earliest. The bird motifs seem to have entered the Western Zhou jade repertoire with designs of human or human-like heads, which were to disappear shortly afterwards and only the bird and dragon motifs remained.Handles were one of the principal jade types to be abandoned before the beginning of the Eastern Zhou. Some early examples survived into later periods, however. Handles of the Shang and early Western Zhou have come from late Eastern Zhou tombs at Qufu in Shangdong province.
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