China, Han Dynasty, ca. 206 BCE to 220 CE. A mottled green-brown jade disc, finely carved, with a swirling relief design of a pixiu (bixie), a mythical animal, on one side; on the obverse is a pattern of thin incised lines. Long curved cutouts at regular intervals form a border around the disc. One side is indented with a cut, curved design and may indicate a top or bottom. Comes with custom stand. Size: 3.2" W (8.1 cm)

TA disc cut out from the center on the obverse gives further three-dimensionality to the animal on the front. This type of object was made to be sewn onto clothing. The pixiu (bixie) is a mythological chimaera with a swirling body, combining canine and feline features. Chinese art has incorporated jade since the Neolithic period; quarries for nephrite, the formal name for jade, have been found in modern-day southern Mongolia that date to ca. 4000 BCE. The stone was prized for its hardness, its beautiful coloration (with a milky white being the most desired), and its durability. By the third millennium BCE, we know that jade had also come to be associated with immortality. Jade was used to make everything from everyday household objects and decoration to the ceremonial suits in which Han dynasty emperors were buried – with the belief that jade would preserve the body and the soul for eternity.

Provenance: Ex-Meyerson collection

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