A WHITE JADE FIGURE OF A RECUMBENT PIG EASTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, SPRING AND AUTUMN PERIOD | 東周春秋時期 袖珍圓雕雲紋玉豬

Jiang Tao and Liu Yunhui, Jades from the Hei-Chi Collection, Beijing, 2006, p. 83.

姜濤及劉雲輝，《熙墀藏玉》，北京，2006年，頁83

This miniature figure, probably made in the late Spring and Autumn period, is meticulously carved in the round as an adorable recumbent pig, finely detailed with scrollwork. This style of carving is apparent on jades from the Shanxi province. A scabbard slide excavated from the tomb of Minister Zhou of State Jin at Taiyuan, for example, is carved with a serpent, a bird and a dragon and elaborated with voluminous scrollwork and incised details; see The Complete Collection of Jades Unearthed in China, vol. 3: Shanxi, Beijing, 2005, pl. 189. Compare also two miniature jade animal carvings from the Warring States period excavated from Fenshuiling, Changzhi, Shanxi, published ibid., pls 224 and 228.

玉豬袖珍可人，體態豐盈，腹側以卷雲作飾，應屬春秋晚期之物，殊不易得。山西發掘所得，有不少以圓潤雲紋為飾之品，如太原趙卿墓春秋晚期玉劍璏，雕蛇、鳥及龍紋，綴以圓目，隱起卷雲，添飾陰刻，載於《中國出土玉器全集》，卷3：山西，北京，2005年，圖版189，同書並刊長治分水嶺出土戰國獸形珮，尺寸袖珍，滿綴卷雲，圖版224、228。