AN INCISED JADE 'DRAGON' BRACELET WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY | 西周 陰刻龍紋玉鐲

Jiang Tao and Liu Yunhui, Jades from Hei-Chi Collection II, Beijing, 2012, p. 48.

姜濤及劉雲輝，《熙墀藏玉續》，北京，2012年，頁48

The present jade is skilfully engraved with two parallel spiralling bands of stylised dragons. While this type of motifs was not uncommon in the Western Zhou dynasty, it is extremely rare to find an incised bracelet such as the present piece. In fact, the form of the present piece is reminiscent of Neolithic jade bracelets, especially those from the Liangzhu culture. Compare three smaller Liangzhu bracelets excavated from Sidun and Zhanglingshan and now in the Nanjing Museum, all slightly waisted, published in Zhongguo yuqi quanji [Complete collection of Chinese jades], vol. 1: Yuanshi shehui [Primitive society], Hebei, 1991, pls 258-260; and two other bracelets in the collection of Freer Gallery of Art, Washington DC, also slightly waisted, incised with pictographs and a geometric pattern respectively, nos F1917.385 and F1919.46. For the more common but smaller tubes engraved with dragons, see one excavated from Yongningpu, Hongtong, Shanxi (d. 2.3-2.7 cm), published in The Complete Collection of Jades Unearthed in China, vol. 3: Shanxi, Beijing, 2005, pl. 76; a bead from the collection of Sir Joseph Hotung (d. 3.2 cm), illustrated in Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jade: From the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, no. 14:3, p. 50, figs 37c, d (panoramic view); and another from the Edward and Louise B. Sonnenschein collection and now in the Art Institute of Chicago, no. 1950.548 (d. 2 cm), the line drawing of which is published ibid., p. 240, fig. 1.

玉鐲所刻龍紋，陰刻雙層平行龍紋，連續不斷，風格屬西周晚期。陰刻飾紋的玉佩飾，西周年間雖談不上絕無僅有，但飾於玉鐲上者，甚罕。此器呈圓筒形，略束腰，形狀與新石器時代玉鐲有相類之處。參考寺墩及張陵山出土的三件良渚文化玉鐲，均呈束腰之狀，現存南京博物院，圖見《中國玉器全集》，卷1：原始社會，石家莊，1991年，圖版258-260。華盛頓弗利爾美術館也藏兩例，分別陰刻圖象及幾何圖案，編號F1917.385及F1919.46 [https://asia.si.edu/object/F1917.385/ and https://asia.si.edu/object/F1919.46/]。 對比小巧的陰刻龍紋玉管狀器，如山西洪洞永凝堡出土玉握（徑2.3-2.7公分），收錄於《中國出土玉器全集》，卷3：山西，北京，2005年，圖版76；何鴻卿爵士舊藏小玉管（徑3.2公分），收入羅森，《Chinese Jade: From the Neolithic to the Qing》，倫敦，1995年，編號14:3；或芝加哥藝術學院 Sonnenschein 伉儷舊藏玉管，編號1950.548（徑2公分）[https://www.artic.edu/artworks/69773/bead]，其線描圖則可參閱前述羅森著作，頁240，圖1。