Lot  8. A small yellow jade animal head, Late Shang Dynasty  (c. 1500-1050 BC); 4.2 cm, 1 ½ in. Estimate: 200,000 - 300,000 HKD. Unsold. Courtesy Sotheby's.

skilfully worked with a subtle ridge to depict the snout, the tip picked out with two nostrils, the reverse further rendered with two curved incised lines flanking the aperture, the warm greenish-yellow stone with light russet inclusions.

Property from the Hei-Chi Collection.

Literature: Jiang Tao and Liu Yunhui, Jades from Hei-Chi Collection II, Beijing, 2012, p. 39.

Note: The production of small jade animal carvings blossomed in the late Shang period around the time of Fu Hao (c. 1200 BC). The bloom could have been inspired by Neolithic pieces, according to Jessica Rawson, as evident by the famous phoenix plaque from Shijiahe culture (c. 2500-2000 BC) unearthed in the tomb of Fu Hao, among numerous Shang dynasty jade animal carvings (The Complete Collection of Jades Unearthed in China, vol. 5: Henan, Beijing, 2005, pl. 30). The similarities in decoration between jade animal carvings and bronzes, especially those with exotic zoomorphic motifs from Dayangzhou in Jiangxi, however, suggest another possible connection (see Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jade: From the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, pp. 205-208). The facial features and the incised details of the present carving indicate a stronger relationship with Shang dynasty bronzes than with Neolithic precedents. Compare two related jade carvings excavated from Xiaotun, Anyang, and exhibited in King Wu Ding and Lady Hao: Art and Culture of the Late Shang Dynasty, Taipei, 2011, p. 189, a celadon jade ornament for the handle of an arrow case, and p. 196, a set of horse bridle ornaments including two jade animal masks. See also two jade ‘animal head’ carvings illustrated in Jessica Rawson, op.cit., nos 12:16-12:17. The former, probably reworked from a section of a cong, is similarly decorated with features reminiscent of Shang bronzes, but with protruding flanges on either side. See also a small jade carving of a ram head with similarly outlined brows from the tomb of Fu Hao, published in The Complete Collection of Jades Unearthed in China, op.cit., pl. 37.

Related animal masks can also be found on Shang dynasty beads; see an example, also incised with a diamond motif on the forehead of the animal, illustrated in Jessica Rawson, op.cit., no. 14:2, together with another bead in the collection of the British Museum, London, fig. 3.