Period:Tang dynasty Production date:10thC-12thC
Materials:jade
Technique:carved, polished (?), drilled,
Subjects:dragon
Dimensions:Height: 6.50 centimetres Width: 5.10 centimetres
Description:
Dragon head spout of white jade with some mottling finished to a soft polish. Open jaws reveal fangs and teeth; the curled horn is perforated for a spout or liquids to be poured from its open mouth. A plain extension from the base has two perforations for attachment.
IMG
![图片[1]-spout BM-2022-3034.270-China Archive](https://chinaarchive.net/Tang dynasty/Jades/229_.jpg)
Comments:This very animated dragon’s head with open jaws revealing finely defined fangs and teeth, upturned snout and wide-open eyes, curled horn between frilly ears is perforated for a spout or liquids to be poured from its open mouth. The back of the neck has a curled ridge and further frills surround the jaws and the base of the neck. A plain extension from the base has two perforations for attachment. Tang. Chung Wah-pui wrote “Probably Tang with very fine and powerful details. Definitely of Chinese origin and is not a spout for vessel.” This spout has been made by drilling a flared dragon head with open mouth. The neck has a small flange that must have fitted into something else, and the flange is pierced by two small holes for attachment. The dragon head itself is relatively short, and it s open mouth displays neat rows of teeth. A short ribbed snout is rolled back on itself, and its tip is foliated like a leaf. This same leaf-like form is echoed on the edges of the ears, the jaw-line and the crest. The neck is drilled vertically to meet another hole drilled horizontally through the dragon’s ribbed open mouth. The ribbing on the snout is seen on stone creatures of the Song dynasty, such as the imaginary beast from the tomb of the emperor Shenzong. There are a number of surviving fittings in the shape of dragon heads, none of them, however, very close to the present piece. For example, a carving in the Sackler Collections is considerably larger than the present piece and lacks the leaf-like forms seen on this piece. The Sackler piece is usually dated to the Yuan dynasty, but a stylistically similar piece exhibited in Shanghai in 1993 is dated to the Song period. The dating of neither piece is particularly convincing and they could belong to a time as late as the Ming period. The bold carving and greenish stone would be as consistent with the later date as the earlier one. Large finials in the shape of dragons may have been used to decorate poles. Such ornaments appear for example in paintings of processions dating from the late Tang to the seventeenth century. Dragon finials were also made in stone, perhaps originating in the Song dynasty. Many survive in the Ming and Qing imperial palaces and tombs in and around Beijing.” See Rawson 1995 pp.382-383, cat.no.28:1.
Materials:jade
Technique:carved, polished (?), drilled,
Subjects:dragon
Dimensions:Height: 6.50 centimetres Width: 5.10 centimetres
Description:
Dragon head spout of white jade with some mottling finished to a soft polish. Open jaws reveal fangs and teeth; the curled horn is perforated for a spout or liquids to be poured from its open mouth. A plain extension from the base has two perforations for attachment.
IMG
Comments:This very animated dragon’s head with open jaws revealing finely defined fangs and teeth, upturned snout and wide-open eyes, curled horn between frilly ears is perforated for a spout or liquids to be poured from its open mouth. The back of the neck has a curled ridge and further frills surround the jaws and the base of the neck. A plain extension from the base has two perforations for attachment. Tang. Chung Wah-pui wrote “Probably Tang with very fine and powerful details. Definitely of Chinese origin and is not a spout for vessel.” This spout has been made by drilling a flared dragon head with open mouth. The neck has a small flange that must have fitted into something else, and the flange is pierced by two small holes for attachment. The dragon head itself is relatively short, and it s open mouth displays neat rows of teeth. A short ribbed snout is rolled back on itself, and its tip is foliated like a leaf. This same leaf-like form is echoed on the edges of the ears, the jaw-line and the crest. The neck is drilled vertically to meet another hole drilled horizontally through the dragon’s ribbed open mouth. The ribbing on the snout is seen on stone creatures of the Song dynasty, such as the imaginary beast from the tomb of the emperor Shenzong. There are a number of surviving fittings in the shape of dragon heads, none of them, however, very close to the present piece. For example, a carving in the Sackler Collections is considerably larger than the present piece and lacks the leaf-like forms seen on this piece. The Sackler piece is usually dated to the Yuan dynasty, but a stylistically similar piece exhibited in Shanghai in 1993 is dated to the Song period. The dating of neither piece is particularly convincing and they could belong to a time as late as the Ming period. The bold carving and greenish stone would be as consistent with the later date as the earlier one. Large finials in the shape of dragons may have been used to decorate poles. Such ornaments appear for example in paintings of processions dating from the late Tang to the seventeenth century. Dragon finials were also made in stone, perhaps originating in the Song dynasty. Many survive in the Ming and Qing imperial palaces and tombs in and around Beijing.” See Rawson 1995 pp.382-383, cat.no.28:1.
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