WARRING STATES PERIOD, 5TH CENTURY BC

This superb and rare bead is a tour de force of jade carving, with the intricate scroll pattern evenly distributed across the entire surface of the bead and longitudinally pierced for stringing with a tiny channel executed with remarkable precision. Similar scroll patterns can be found on two jade beads dated Eastern Zhou dynasty, 6^th-5^th century BC, sold in Fine Chinese Art from the Arthur M. Sackler Collection; Christie’s New York, 18 March 2009, lot 313. Such surface designs were apparently influenced by fittings and rings made of gold, which had become widespread by the 8^th century BC and which regularly appear in late Western Zhou tombs and in 8^th-6^th century BC tombs in Henan and Shaanxi.