A VERY RARE ARCHAISTIC JADE RITUAL 'YINGXIONG' IMPLEMENT QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD

comprising two rings, the bottom carved depicting a mythical beast and surmounted by the second ring depicting a phoenix, the two rings each with hinges to provide a snug fit, the leonine head of the beast and the bird's eagle beak, curled ears, wings and tail well defined with fine lines, the stone of a warm russet-brown tone with splashes of celadon and finished overall with a smooth polish

This highly unusual jade appears to be the only published one of its type.  While made in the 18th century, it has flavours of archaism which reflected the Qing dynasty taste for antiquity.  The Qianlong emperor was fascinated with the Han Dynasty and had numerous objects from that period reproduced, many of which also took on Qing innovations as well. The russet patinaed skin of the jade was possibly done through a process called 'burn-dye' that Qianlong jade carvers used in copying archaic jades. 

The combination of the eagle and the bear, forming the rebus yingxiong, or word for 'hero' or 'champion' was a motif that dates back to the Han Dynasty.  'Champion' vases, double cylindrical vessels connected by an eagle standing on a bear, has it origins to the Song Dynasty, according to James Watt.  See a jade champion vase sold in our New York rooms 19th March 2007, lot 20. 

The present lot itself may have been first conceived as an archer's thumb ring, although the size of the opening renders the piece as more an ornamental object rather than a utilitarian ring.  Compare archer's thumb rings from the Eastern Zhou dynasty in the British Museum, illustrated in Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jade, pp. 286-288, cat.nos. 20:1 and 2.  It is highly unusual to find notch fittings allowing the two separate pieces to stack snuggly one on top of each other, but  may have been inspired from archaic bronze weapon fittings.