Lot 89. An incised jade 'dragon' bracelet, Western Zhou dynasty (1050-771 BC); d. 8.2 cm, 3 ¼ in. Estimate: 300,000 - 400,000 HKD. Unsold. Courtesy Sotheby's.

worked with two diagonal grooves, dividing the gently waisted surface into four registers, each incised with a dragon's head rendered with double-lines and scrollwork.

Property from the Hei-Chi Collection.

Note: The present jade is skilfully engraved with two parallel spiralling bands of stylised dragons. While this type of motifs was not uncommon in the Western Zhou dynasty, it is extremely rare to find an incised bracelet such as the present piece. In fact, the form of the present piece is reminiscent of Neolithic jade bracelets, especially those from the Liangzhu culture. Compare three smaller Liangzhu bracelets excavated from Sidun and Zhanglingshan and now in the Nanjing Museum, all slightly waisted, published in Zhongguo yuqi quanji [Complete collection of Chinese jades], vol. 1: Yuanshi shehui [Primitive society], Hebei, 1991, pls 258-260; and two other bracelets in the collection of Freer Gallery of Art, Washington DC, also slightly waisted, incised with pictographs and a geometric pattern respectively, nos F1917.385 and F1919.46. For the more common but smaller tubes engraved with dragons, see one excavated from Yongningpu, Hongtong, Shanxi (d. 2.3-2.7 cm), published in The Complete Collection of Jades Unearthed in China, vol. 3: Shanxi, Beijing, 2005, pl. 76; a bead from the collection of Sir Joseph Hotung (d. 3.2 cm), illustrated in Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jade: From the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, no. 14:3, p. 50, figs 37c, d (panoramic view); and another from the Edward and Louise B. Sonnenschein collection and now in the Art Institute of Chicago, no. 1950.548 (d. 2 cm), the line drawing of which is published ibid., p. 240, fig. 1.

Bracelet with incised glyphs, Late Neolithic period, Liangzhu culture (ca. 3300-ca. 2250 BCE). Jade (nephrite). H x Diam: 3.9 × 6.4 cm (1 1/2 × 2 1/2 in) Diam (top opening): 5.9 cm (2 5/16 in) Diam (bottom opening): 5.6 cm (2 3/16 in) H x W (inscription): 1.9 × 3.1 cm (3/4 × 1 1/4 in). Freer Gallery of Art, Gift of Charles Lang Freer, F1917.385. © 2020 Smithsonian Institution

Bracelet with geometric decoration, Late Neolithic period, Liangzhu culture (ca. 3300-ca. 2250 BCE). Jade (nephrite). H x Diam: 5 x 7.3 cm (1 15/16 x 2 7/8 in) Diam (hole): 6.7 cm (2 5/8 in). Freer Gallery of Art, Gift of Charles Lang Freer, F1919.46. © 2020 Smithsonian Institution.

Bead, Western Zhou period, 10th/9th century B.C. Jade. L. 1 13/16 in.; diam. 3/4 in. Edward and Louise B. Sonnenschein Collection, 1950.548. © Art Institute of Chicago

Sotheby's. Monochrome II, 9 October 2020, Hong Kong