This spectacular massive jade bi and its magnificent bronze stand would have once stood outside an important hall in the Forbidden City. The only counterpart known cut from the same stone with a bronze ‘dragon’ stand cast in the exact same style and of the same size still stands precisely positioned in the central axis facing the Yangxindian. The present massive jade bi and its counterpart in the Yangxindian are the two largest bi discs extant in the world, powerfully representing Heaven and imperial authority as bi discs are believed to have symbolised Heaven since the Eastern Zhou and Han dynasties. The current jade bi once graced the collection of a European royal family for around half a century between the late 1950s and early 2010s.

Past Auction

Heaven and Earth: The Collection of an Aesthete, Part 1

9 October 2023 | 11:30 AM HKT | Hong Kong