A rare celadon and brown 'dragon and bird' plaque, Mid - late Western Zhou dynasty | 西周中晚期 淺青玉赤沁雙鳳紋龍紋梯形飾

Collection of Robert Hatfield Ellsworth (1929-2014), New York, no. JI 130 (label). 

安思遠（1929-2014年）收藏，紐約，編號 JI 130 （標籤）

This plaque is a rare example with its unusual trapezoidal form, while the decoration of dragon and bird closely resembles the jade ornaments found in the Tomb of Fu Hao, Yinxu, Anyang, Henan province. For examples of jade bird or dragon plaques, late Shang dynasty, see a jade bird plaque and a celadon jade dragon ornament excavated in 1976 from the Tomb of Fu Hao, illustrated in Yang Boda, Zhongguo yuqi quanji [Complete collection of Chinese jades], Hebei, 2005, nos 88 and 100.

A closely related example of a yellow jade ‘bird and human’ plaque, Shang dynasty, from the Qing court collection, currently in the Palace Museum, Beijing has a similar trapezoidal form, see ibid., no. 180. See also a celadon jade plaque dated to the early Western Zhou dynasty in the Tianjin Museum, which is similarly decorated with two birds in a back-to-back position looking at each other, illustrated in ibid., no. 247.

青玉玉質，帶有赤沁及硃砂，通體呈梯形，雙面雕飾雙鳳龍紋，中間有一圓孔。雙鳳背對背，回首對望，下部飾一屈體龍紋。此佩飾形製較為罕見，其雕刻鳳紋及龍紋，玉河南殷墟婦好墓出土的商代晚期的玉鳥及玉龍玦相似，見楊柏達，《中國玉器全集》，河北，2005年，編號88及100。

北京故宮博物院清宮舊藏一件商代黃玉鷹攫人首佩，雖紋飾有所差異，但其梯形形制及紋飾分佈可與本器做比較，同上註，編號180。另見天津市藝術博物館藏一件西周早期青玉雙鳳紋佩，雖缺龍紋，但雙鳳背靠背回首對望之排列方式與本拍品極為相似，同上註，編號247。