Lot 342. Two greenish-white and russet jade scabbard slides, Han dynasty, 2nd-1st century BC; 2 15/16 and 2 3/8 in. (7.4 and 6 cm.) long. Estimate USD 8,000 - USD 10,000. Price realised USD 10,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2008 

Both rectangular slides boldly carved on the curved top utilizing the russet natural markings in the stone, one slide carved with a small chilong biting the tail of a largerchilong with feline head confronting a smaller chilong with a dragon's head, the other slide carved with two writhing, sinuous chilong, their long tails interlacing at the center, two boxes.

Provenance: Larger slide: Old English Collection.
Roger Keverne, London, 1995.
Smaller slide: Christie's, Hong Kong, 30-31 October 1994, lot 433. 

Lot 343. A large pale grey jade disc, bi, Han dynasty, 2nd-1st century BC; 2 15/16 and 2 3/8 in. (7.4 and 6 cm.) long. Estimate USD 6,000 - USD 8,000. Price realised USD 20,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2008  

Both sides with a plain inner and outer border, with a wide band of comma spirals set within an inner striated border and an outer band carved with outward-facing bovine masks with long, scrolling horns, the pale greenish-grey stone with some opaque beige alteration, box. 

Provenance: Private collection, Washington, DC, early 1970s. 

Property from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Malcolm E. McPherson.

Note: A group of silmilarly carved bi, dated c. 122 BC, were found on the lower part of the jade suit of the King of Nanyue at Xinggang, Guangzhou, Guangdong province. See J. Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, p. 73, fig. 67, and Gu Fang, The Complete Collection of Unearthed Jades in China, vol. 11, Beijing, 2005, no. 51. Compare two other similar bi illustrated by the Institute of Archaeology, Excavations of the Han Tombs at Mancheng, vol. II, Beijing, 1980, pl. CCX, figs. 1 and 2.

Lot 344. Three early jade carvings, Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 220); 4 5/8, 2 7/16 and 2¼ in. (11.7, 6.1 and 5.6 cm.) long. Estimate USD 6,000 - USD 8,000. Price realised USD 7,500. © Christie's Image Ltd 2008  

Comprising a figure of a pig, with a small hole pierced through the wedge-shaped tab below the large, flat snout and another at the base of the wedge-shaped tail, the greyish-green stone altered to a buff color with some sparse darker markings; a greenish-white jade figure of a cicada; and a small belthook, the stone altered overall to an opaque warm buff color, all three crisply carved with slashed grooves and notches to delineate the features, three boxes. 

Provenance: Pig figure and belthook: J.T. Tai, New York, 1970s.
Cicada: acquired in Hong Kong in the mid-1980s.