Lot 41. A rare pale green jade and gilt-bronze ladle, Warring States Period-Han Dynasty; 20.4cm (8in) long. Estimate HK$ 400,000 - 600,000 (€46,000 - 69,000). Sold for HK$ 1,000,000 (€ 118,829). Photo: Bonhams.

The peach-shaped jade cup incised on the exterior with a ground of interlinked scrolls, encased within the base of the gilt-bronze ladle formed by scrolls around a ring, the long and very slightly curved handle decorated on one side with a pair of raised straight ridges, terminating at the top end with a mythical beast mask. 

Note: Jade ladles fitted with gilt-bronze handles are extremely rare. The form of this ladle is likely to be a copy of the archaic bronze spoon known as shao ordou which was made for use with ritual wine vessels such as zun, you, gong or lei during the Zhou dynasty. Compare an archaic bronze spoon of similar form and decoration, excavated from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng, currently in the Hubei Provincial Museum, illustrated in Zhongguo Qingtongqi Quanji 10: Dongzhou 4, Beijing, 1998, pl.174.

Although no jade ladle of the same decoration appears to have been published, similar elements including the animal mask and the tripart fluting design of the handle can be found related to two bronze garment hooks, Warring States period, in the Freer Gallery of Art, illustrated by T.Lawton, Chinese Art of the Warring States Period: Change and Continuity, 480–222 B.C., Washington D.C., 1982, pls.44 and 45.

For jade ladles with a similar form but without gilt-bronze fittings, see two related examples, both dated to the Han dynasty: a jade ladle with the design of an animal mask at the end of the handle, excavated at Luoyang, Henan Province, illustrated by Gu Fang, The Pictorial Handbook of Ancient Chinese Jades, Beijing, 2007, p.282; and another in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum: Jade 4, Beijing, 2011, p.186, no.241. 

Bonhams. THE SZE YUAN TANG COLLECTION OF CHINESE JADES, 11:00 HKT - HONG KONG, ADMIRALTY