WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY (1100-771 BC)

The present ornament displays an elegant combination of two zoomorphic elements, depicting a phoenix perched on top of a coiling dragon, the contours rendered in double-line grooves, a style characteristic of the Western Zhou period. A very similar example depicting the same motif but of slightly different shape, is in the National Palace Museum Collection (acquisition no. gouyu 611), illustrated in Art in Quest of Heaven and Truth- Chinese Jades through the Ages, Taipei, 2012, pl. 5-4-6. Another example depicting similar motifs was excavated in Rujiazhuang, its line drawing illustrated in Teng Shu-p’ing, Collectors’ Exhibition of Archaic Chinese Jades, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1999, p. 35, pl. 30:5. A rectangular plaque depicting similar motifs is in the Palace Museum Collection, illustrated in Zhongguo yuqi quanji 2- Shang & Western Zhou, Shijiazhuang, 1993, pl. 242.