Lot 47. An archaistic jade 'dragon and phoenix' plaque, Song-Ming dynasty; 9.3cm length. Sold for US$28,050  (Estimate US$15.000 - 20.000). © Bonhams 2001-2023

Carved in profile and following ancient prototypes, the winged dragon looking back at the fluted, forked tail which morphs into a phoenix facing the dragon, the body finely decorated with hooked scrolls in relief, the stone surface with earth encrustations and mottled in russet brown.

Provenance: John Sparks Ltd., London
Eskenazi, Ltd., London
J. J. Lally & Co., New York, 1991
Robert P. Youngman Collection, New York, 1994
Sotheby's Hong Kong, The Robert Youngman Collection II, 3 April 2019, lot 3439.

Published: Youngman, The Youngman Collection of Chinese Jades from Neolithic to Qing, Chicago, 2008, pl. 57.

Note: Compare the openwork jade dragon plaque in archaic style from the Mottehedeh Collection, now in the Royal Ontario Museum, exhibited at the Victoria & Albert Museum and illustrated in the catalogue of the Oriental Ceramic Society Chinese Jade Throughout the Ages, London, 1975, no. 280, described as Song or Jin period, 12th – 13th century.

Compare also the openwork dragon plaque in the British Museum carved in a similar style included in the same exhibition and illustrated in the catalogue, op. cit., no. 283.

For a very similar Warring States example showing stylistic connection with the present example, see The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Jadeware I, Hong Kong, 2006, p. 192, no. 160, from the Qing Court Collection.