Lot 2. Deux Cervidés en Jade, Dynastie des Zhou Occidentaux, Xe-IXe siècle avant J.-C. Larg. 4,7 et 4,5 cm; 1 7/8 and 1 3/4  in. Estimation: 30,000 — 50,000 €. Lot. Vendu 75,000 €. Photo Sotheby's 2015

chaque plaque fine et plate sculptée en forme d'un daim aux larges bois, l'un allongé la tête tournée vers l'arrière, l'autre penché les pattes avant repliées sous lui, de simples lignes sinueuses figurant les yeux et les contours du corps, le plus grand percé d'un petit trou pour le suspendre, la pierre presque calcifiée d'une jolie teinte chamois ponctuée de rouge au doux poli satiné, D.W. 31/132 and 2213 (2).

TWO RARE CALCIFIED JADE 'DEER' PENDANTS, WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 10TH/9TH CENTURY BC

Provenance: Discovered at Luoyang, Henan (according to David-Weill's notes).
D.W 31/132: C. T. Loo, Paris

Exposition: Arts de la Chine Ancienne, Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris, 1937, no. 108.

Littérature:  D.W 31/132:
Paul Pelliot, Jades Archaïques de la Chine appartenant a Monsieur C. T. Loo, Paris, 1925, pl. XXX. 1.
Georges Salles, Arts de la Chine Ancienne, Paris, 1937, cat. no. 108 (not illustrated).

Paul Pelliot, Jades Archaïques de la Chine appartenant à M.C. T. Loo, Paris, 1925, Image © G. Van Oest, Editeur, Paris, 1925

Paul Pelliot, Jades Archaïques de la Chine appartenant a Monsieur C. T. Loo, Paris, 1925, pl. XXX. 1, Image © G. Van Oest, Editeur, Paris, 1925

Note: Jessica Rawson notes that small carvings in the shape of animals form one of the principal categories of Shang and early Western Zhou jades, made in large numbers and in a variety of forms, see Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, p. 205. Small pendants in the form of stags or deer appear to be popular in the early and mid-Western Zhou period as numerous finds illustrate, compare, for example, similar deer-shaped pendants discovered at Rujiazhuang, Baoji, Shaanxi, published in Baoji Yu guo mudi, Beijing, 1988, vol. 2, pls. 183.1-4 and 184.1-4. 

The two jade deers from the David-Weill Collection are depicted in a crouching position, one of them with its head turned and glancing back. Rawson suggests that this pose may have been influenced by designs from Western Asia, see Rawson, ibid., p. 232. 

Sotheby's. Trésors de la Chine ancienne de la collection David David-Weill, Paris, 16 Dec 2015, 10:30 AM