A celadon jade bracelet, Late Shang dynasty | 商晚期　弦紋玉鐲

Teng Shu-p’ing, Collectors’ Exhibition of Archaic Chinese Jades, Palace Museum, Taipei, 1999, cat. no. 53.

Tsai Ching-Liang, Jades of Shang Dynasty, Aurora Art Museum, Taipei, 2010, pl. 66.

Exquisitely crafted with thin, even walls, the present bracelet-shaped object features a gracefully waisted profile with slightly flared upper and lower rims. The stone is extensively altered to varying shades of brown with areas of natural calcification, further enhancing its archaic appeal.

The body is neatly drilled with two circular apertures near the lower edge. While the exact function of this object remains a subject of scholarly debate, these perforations were likely intended for threading cords to secure the piece, suggesting it may have been worn as a cuff or armlet, or perhaps served as a sophisticated hair ornament.

For comparable examples, see a related jade bracelet, also featuring perforations, excavated from the Shang dynasty tomb of Fu Hao in Anyang, Henan province, now in the collection of the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, illustrated in Queen, Mother and General: 40th Anniversary of Excavating the Shang Tomb of Fu Hao: Jade Article, Beijing, 2016, p. 108. See another related jade bracelet, excavated from Tomb 18 at Xiaotun, Anyang, Henan province, illustrated in Gu Fang, The Pictorial Handbook of Ancient Chinese Jades, Beijing, 2007, p. 162.

展覽

鄧淑蘋，《羣玉別藏續集》，故宮博物院，台北，1999年，編號53

出版

蔡慶良，《商代玉器》，震旦藝術博物館，台北，2010年，圖版66

本件鐲形器製作相當精緻，器壁輕薄均勻，外形微微曲弧，形成上下敞口的束腰造形。靠近上下口沿處各有間距三道環狀凸稜，整體風格簡約精巧。全器受沁呈深淺不一的褐色，局部白化，古意盎然。

器身下部鑽磨兩個規整的穿孔，推測可能是作為綁縛繫帶之用，以便固定於手臂或髮髻之上，然目前尚難以完全確定本件器物的真正功能。

參考相類出土作例，見河南安陽商代婦好墓出土一件帶穿孔的玉鐲，現藏於中國社會科學院考古研究所，著錄於《王后、母親、女將：紀念殷墟婦好墓考古發掘四十周年：玉器篇》，北京，2016年，頁108。另見河南省安陽市小屯18號墓出土一例，著錄於古方，《中國古玉器圖典》，北京，2007年，頁162。