Yun An Museum Acquires a Grain-Pattern Jade Dragon Pendant from the Lantian Shanfang Collection, Early–Middle Warring States Period

Length: 27.5 cm; height: 13 cm; thickness: 0.65–0.9 cm.

Carved from pale green jade with areas of brown, rust-coloured alteration, this pendant takes the form of a large, dynamically coiling dragon. Despite its size, it remains well balanced when suspended on a silk cord. Both faces bear the same decoration, although a horizontal cutting trace is visible on the reverse.

The curled snout and curved horn extend in opposite directions. The lower jaw forms a rounded arc, and the upper and lower jaws are separated at the mouth. Closely spaced grain-pattern spirals cover the body, their turns slightly angular. The catalogue identifies these as features of the early to middle Warring States period and refers to excavated comparisons from the ancient city of Qufu and Changtaiguan, Xinyang.

Provenance:
Christie’s Hong Kong, 2024, 太一精魄—藍田山房舊藏古玉 (archaic jades formerly in the Lantian Shanfang Collection), lot 1052.
Yun Zhong Ju, Taipei, 28 January 1992.

Publication:
Teng Shu-ping, 羣玉別藏續集, Taipei, 1999, p. 257, pl. 174.

Exhibited:
National Palace Museum, 羣玉別藏續集, Taipei, 1999.