A FINE ARCHAISTIC JADE CARVING OF A DRAGON, YUAN/MING DYNASTY

of rounded form, one side of deep celadon colour, graduating to black on the upper part of the body, finely carved with a bevelled edge and intricate scrollwork, the tail tucked under the body, with the head lowered, the reverse in black and carved with matching detail 

Collection of Marcel Lauber.

Michael Gulbenkian, 'Archaic Jades', Arts of Asia, May-June 1983, p. 104.

Small triangular old chip (ca. 0.5cm) to the upper rim on the black side of the jade. Two further tiny chips (each ca. 0.1cm) to the rim on the other side. Overall very good condition for age.
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The present jade carving of a dragon represents the extraordinary vigour and strength of late Yuan and early Ming carvings. Although at first sight the piece may appear simple, it is the simplicity of the design combined with the highly skilled polished finish that makes it most attractive. 

Carvings of archaic forms, from the Song dynasty onwards, were made to emphasize the importance of the past as a source of general value to be followed in both the political and social domains. Hence, exquisite archaistic carvings, such as the present piece, were made to elevate contemporary values by redeploying ancient items which had, at the time, useful associations. The past was thus deliberately revived and cultivated in these objects for present use. Jessica Rawson in Chinese Jade, London, 1995, p. 89, notes that objects recovered from tombs from the Southern Song onwards show evidence of this approach. 

Woodblock prints, such as the Kaogu tu and the Bo gu tulu allowed Yuan and Ming jade carvers to look at archaic objects and to copy them. Furthermore, because the woodblock illustrations were only an intermediary and not the actual objects, it was possible for the crafsmen to produce objects not only in a new medium, such as jade, but also to add their own style and design. The copied objects became valuable not only for their function, but even more importantly, for their association with the past and its supposed  virtues.

This carving of a dragon is after pendants made in the late Eastern Zhou period (770-256 B.C.), a drawing of which is illustrated ibid., fig. 87, from the Kaogu tu compiled in 1092 by Lu Dan. See also a jade pendant in the form of a feline beast, in the collection of the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, published in S. Howard Hansford, Chinese Carved Jades, London, 1968, pl. 37A, together with a jade carving of a canine, pl. 37B.

A Ming carving of a tiger in a similar archaistic style, in the British Museum, is included Rawson, op.cit., fig. 86. For a discussion and further examples of jade carvings after archic forms see Angus Forsyth and Brian McElney, Jades from China, Hong Kong, 1994, pp. 380-388, the pieces from the collection of the Museum of East Asian Art.