A carved pale green jade ‘chilong' scabbard slide, Western Han dynasty

拍品描述

Chinese Jades from the Ralph Wanger Collection Length 3⅛ in., 8 cm Finely carved in low relief with a youthful chilong striding across the surface with remarkable vitality, the mythical beast is imbued with an extraordinary sense of movement. Its head is rendered with small bead-like eyes beneath a long trailing crest, while the rounded haunch and one hind leg break free of the confines of the rectangular slide, the tail curling gracefully into an openwork scroll at one end. This exceptionally rare scabbard slide is distinguished by the sculptural freedom of its design, the spirited chilong transcending the strict geometry of the rectangular slide to create a sense of striking vitality. For a related jade scabbard slide carved in a similar manner, though with a more restrained treatment of the projecting form, see one illustrated by J. Rawson in Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, British Museum, London, 1995, p. 302, no. 21:15. Even closer in both conception and execution is the celebrated scabbard slide illustrated by Roger Keverne, ed., Jade, London, 1991, p. 109, fig. 38, where the chilong exhibits the same sinuous proportions, fluid modeling, and effortless vitality as the present lot, differing only in the addition of a monkey perched astride one edge.

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