Lot 15. A rare jade dragon, Late Shang Dynasty, 5.7cm (2in) long. Estimate HK$150,000 - 200,000 (US$19,000 - 26,000). Sold for HK$ 350,000 (€40,162). Photo: Bonhams.

Carved in the form of a coiled dragon with its tail curving towards the head, deftly carved with double-line scrolls with protruding eyes on both sides, the softly polished stone of greyish tone suffused with dark brown markings.

Provenance: Tse Siu Bong, Hong Kong, 1982
The Songzhutang collection, no.19

Published and Illustrated: T.Fok, The Splendour of Jade: The Songzhutang Collection of Jade, Hong Kong, 2011, pl.19

Note: Tse Siu Bong was a Chinese antique collector in Hong Kong and well-known for his archaic jade collection. He was the founder of Chung Ching Dispensary and the CEO of King-to Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa, a well known brand of Chinese herbal remedies in Hong Kong.

A similar jade dragon pendant was excavated from the tomb of Fu Hao in Anyang, Henan Province, carved with a coiled body incised in double lines. See J.Rawson, Chinese Jades from the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, p.209, fig.2. 

See another comparable example of a jade dragon, Shang dynasty, also thickly carved in the form of a coiled dragon, illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum: Jade 2 Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties, Beijing, 2011, p.144, pl.137. Compare also a further related example with similar carving style, in the Aurora Art Museum, illustrated by Cai Qingliang, Jades of Shang Dynasty, Taipei, 2010, p.115, pl.68. Compare the carving and form of a white jade dragon, Shang dynasty, from the Richard C. Bull collection, included in the Hong Kong Museum of Art exhibition Chinese Jade Animals, 1996, no.6.

Bonhams. THE SONGZHUTANG COLLECTION OF EARLY JADES from the Neolithic Period to the Yuan Dynasty, 30 May 2017, 14:00 HKT - HONG KONG, ADMIRALTY