The flat plaque finely carved in openwork and well-defined double outlines as a crouching humanoid figure shown in profile, encircled by three dragon heads facing in different directions, the first at the top of the human face, the second forming the arms and trunk of the human body and the third behind the human leg, each depicted with a diamond-shaped eye below an angular forehead and a pointed ear, the semi-translucent stone of a pale green tone suffused with buff inclusions, finished to a lustrous polish. 15.6cm (6in) long.

Provenance: The Sze Yuan Tang Collection

Note: A similar but smaller jade pendant of a hybrid configuration of human and dragon, Western Zhou dynasty, was excavated from Tomb no.63 in the cemetery of the Marquis of the State of Jin in Shanxi Province, in the Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, see Gu Fang, The Complete Collection of Jades Unearthed in China, vol.3, Beijing, 2010, p.116. Another similar example excavated from the same tomb, in the Shanghai Museum, is illustrated by J.F.So in Chinese Jades from the Cissy and Robert Tang Collection, Hong Kong, 2015, p.97, fig.14.1.

Bonhams. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 28 Nov 2017, 14:00 HKT, HONG KONG, ADMIRALTY