Period:Yuan dynasty Production date:13thC-19thC
Materials:jade
Technique:carved, polished (?), pierced, incised,
Subjects:dragon
Dimensions:Height: 6.40 centimetres Width: 7.60 centimetres
Description:
Oval-shaped topknot hair ornament of very pale green jade with brown inclusions and soft polish.
IMG
![图片[1]-topknot BM-2022-3034.209-China Archive](https://chinaarchive.net/Yuan dynasty/Jades/mid_Jade_209.jpg)
Comments:The intricately carved dragon is curled round amongst clouds all in open work. The long-snouted dragon with double “deer” horns and prominent eyes with striated fur behind its jaws is incised with scales on its sinuous body with a pearl caught in its claws. The slightly concave base is plain save for four perforations for attachment purposes. Yuan or early Ming, 14th-15th century. On this headdress ornament a powerful coiled dragon emerges from the top of complex openwork carving, supported on a curved plain underside, which is pierced by two pairs of holes. The uplifted head of the dragon crowns a convoluted composition in which the dragon body is entwined among cloud tendrils. Pairs of branching horns emphasise the openwork. The body of the creature is embellished with deeply incised lines; there is a pearl clasped in its claws. This is an exceptionally well carved example of a type of headdress ornament that is fairly well known in a wide range of sizes; this one is among the largest. There are other examples in Western and East Asian collections. Until recently, however, this category of ornament had been largely overlooked, many of the smaller examples having been converted into knobs for lids of vessels. One of the few excavated examples to have been published in from a late Ming tomb at Nancheng in Jiangxi province. See Rawson 1995, p.338, cat.no.25.15.
Materials:jade
Technique:carved, polished (?), pierced, incised,
Subjects:dragon
Dimensions:Height: 6.40 centimetres Width: 7.60 centimetres
Description:
Oval-shaped topknot hair ornament of very pale green jade with brown inclusions and soft polish.
IMG
Comments:The intricately carved dragon is curled round amongst clouds all in open work. The long-snouted dragon with double “deer” horns and prominent eyes with striated fur behind its jaws is incised with scales on its sinuous body with a pearl caught in its claws. The slightly concave base is plain save for four perforations for attachment purposes. Yuan or early Ming, 14th-15th century. On this headdress ornament a powerful coiled dragon emerges from the top of complex openwork carving, supported on a curved plain underside, which is pierced by two pairs of holes. The uplifted head of the dragon crowns a convoluted composition in which the dragon body is entwined among cloud tendrils. Pairs of branching horns emphasise the openwork. The body of the creature is embellished with deeply incised lines; there is a pearl clasped in its claws. This is an exceptionally well carved example of a type of headdress ornament that is fairly well known in a wide range of sizes; this one is among the largest. There are other examples in Western and East Asian collections. Until recently, however, this category of ornament had been largely overlooked, many of the smaller examples having been converted into knobs for lids of vessels. One of the few excavated examples to have been published in from a late Ming tomb at Nancheng in Jiangxi province. See Rawson 1995, p.338, cat.no.25.15.
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