A finely carved white jade 'chilong and monkey' she-shaped pendant, Eastern Han dynasty | 東漢　螭猴紋韘形玉珮

Teng Shu-p’ing, Collectors’ Exhibition of Archaic Chinese Jades, Palace Museum, Taipei, 1999, cat. no. 224.

Tsai Ching-Liang, Jades of Han Dynasty, Aurora Art Museum, Taipei, 2005, pl. 92.

The form of this pendant evolved from an ancient archer's ring, which has a long lineage as functional equipment, intended to safeguard the archer’s thumb during the release of arrows from a longbow. Practical examples were typically fashioned from utilitarian materials such as bone or bronze. By contrast, jade thumb rings, some of which can be traced back to the second millennium BCE, instead served as personal adornment or vanity items.

For another Han dynasty example of similar size, and rendered with mythical beasts, including dragon, phoenix, and chilong, excavated from the tomb of Liu Hong at Huangshanzhen in Hunan, now housed in the Office of Preservation of Ancient Monuments of Anxiang, illustrated in Zhongguo chutu yuqi quanji/The Complete Collection of Jades Unearthed in China, vol. 3, Beijing, 2005, pl. 239.

See a slightly smaller Western Han dynasty example (7.1 cm), rendered in low relief but without any beasts, sold in these rooms, 2nd April 2019, lot 3407, from the collection of Robert Youngman.

展覽

鄧淑蘋，《羣玉別藏續集》，故宮博物院，台北，1999年，編號224

出版

蔡慶良，《漢代玉器》，震旦藝術博物館，台北，2005年，圖版92

此玉佩之形制演變自古代玉韘。韘作為實用器具歷史悠久，本用於拉弓放箭時保護射手拇指。實用之韘多以骨或青銅等材質製成。相比之下，玉韘則多作個人佩飾或賞玩之用。

參考一漢代作例，尺寸相若，飾龍、鳳及螭龍等神獸紋，出土於湖南黃山鎮劉弘墓，現藏安鄉縣文物管理所，著錄於《中國出土玉器全集》，卷3，北京，2005年，圖版239。

另見一西漢作例，尺寸略小（7.1公分），飾淺浮雕但無獸紋，出自楊門（Robert Youngman）舊藏，售於香港蘇富比2019年4月2日，編號3407。