Collection of Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978).

來源

史蒂芬•瓊肯三世（1978年逝）收藏

This highly unusual plaque, thinly carved with fluently incised details, depicts a fantastic creature. It is unpierced, indicating a function perhaps not as a wearable pendant, and appears to be unique. While no closely related examples are known to be recorded, this unidentified object can be compared to a small group of related unpierced jade plaques attributed to the Qin to Western Han dynasty. See, for example, a pair of green jade plaques, carved in the silhouette of a crouching tiger with the incisions executed in a similar fashion, excavated in Lianzhi village near Xi'an, Shaanxi province, published in Yang Boda, ed., Zhongguo yuqi quanji [Complete collection of Chinese jades], vol. 2, Shijiazhuang, 2005, no. 10. Compare also a set of six human-form plaques, each depicted with a human head and a rectangular body, some with incised facial features, found from a sacrificial site at Xuechicun, Shaanxi province, which provides an indication that these unpierced thin plaques possibly functioned as ritual objects; see Everlasting Like the Heavens. The Cultures and Arts of the Zhou, Qin, Han, and Tang. Tsinghua University Art Museum and Shaanxi Histo💎ry Museum, Beij🍸ing and Shaanxi, 2019, p. 298.

Stylistically, the present plaque also resembles the jade dancer-form pendants from the Han dynasty. Compare a pale celadon jade example, thinly carved in the form of a female dancer with the incised details executed in a similar level of fluency, excavated in Dabaotai near Beijing, published in ibid., 2005, no. 170; two excavated from the ancient city site near Linquan, Anhui province, now in the collection of the Fuyang Museum, Anhui province, published in Gu Fang, The Complete Collection of Unearthed Jades in China, vol. 6, Beijing, 2005, pl. 140; and two further examples in the Palace Museum, Beijing, published in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Jadeware (I), Hong Kong, 1995, pl. 204.

本品雕琢爽利，呈薄片狀，兩面均以陰線淡勾細部，線條流暢，形象作似人首，雙翼，龜腹，彎腿，尖尾，並無穿孔，故證或非佩戴之用，目前不見類者。唯可參考一類相似玉牌，同作片狀，亦無穿孔，斷代秦至西漢時期，如見一對玉虎，虎呈坐臥狀，兩面亦作相類細線勾勒，描繪細部，陝西省西安市北郊聯志村出土，載楊伯達編，《中國玉器全集（中）》，石家莊，2005年，編號10。另見一組六件人形玉片，每件帶人首及方形身軀，以陰線刻劃面部𓄧細節，陝西鳳翔雍山血池村秦漢祭祀遺址出土，可見此類無穿孔薄片玉雕或為祭祀所用；見《🌞與天久長•周秦漢唐文化與藝術》，清華大學藝術博物館及陝西歷史博物館，北京及陝西，2019，頁298。

本品整體風格亦可對比漢代玉舞人飾。參考一青白玉例，體扁平，以細線刻畫細節，線條靈動自然，與本品刻風頗近，北京市西南郊大葆台出土，錄前述出處，2005年，編號170；另見兩例，安徽省臨泉縣西郊古城出土，現藏阜陽市博物館，載古方，《中國出土玉器全ꦛ集》，卷6，北京，2005年，圖版140；再見兩例，藏北京故宮博物院，刊《故宮博物院藏文物珍品全集•玉器（中）》，香港，1995年，圖版204。