A very rare yellow and russet jade inscribed mythical beast tally


Song/Yuan DynastyEach halve precisely carved in mirror-image as a recumbent mythical beast with elongated neck, the defined legs tucked underneath with incised claws, the exterior slightly rounded and interior flattened, one section with two raised square bosses which accurately fit to square indentations on the other section, each section incised with half an inscription, which when united forms the inscription on the top of 'Yu shang jun tai shou si wei hu hu di er' and on the underside 'He tong', the stone of yellow tone with russet inclusions and calcification, box. 5cm (1 15/16in) long (3).
|宋/元 黃玉沁色虎符 「與上郡太守四為虎符第一」刻款Provenance:Durwin Tang Collection來源：鄧德雍收藏Tallies were made since the Eastern Zhou dynasty in bronze and jade, often in the form of a tiger. See for example a gold-inlaid bronze tiger tally, Warring States period, unearthed from Duchchengcun, Xi'an City, in the Shaanxi History Museum; and another, Western Han dynasty, excavated at Xianggangshan, The Museum of the King of Nanyue, Guangdong Province, illustrated by J.C.S.Lin, ed., The Search for Immortality: Tomb Treasures of Han China, Cambridge, 2012, no. 143. See also a related green and russet jade 'mythical beast' half-tally, from the Baron and Baroness von Oertzen Collection, illustrated by S.H.Hansford, Jade - Essence of Hills and Streams, Johannesburg, 1969, p.106, which was later sold at Christie's South Kensington, London, 7 November 2008, lot 241 (part lot).虎符東周即有所見，然材質不一。如西安市杜城村出土一件秦國銅錯金虎符，現藏陝西歷史博物館。另見廣州象崗山出土一件稀罕銅虎符，現存西漢南越王博物館，著錄於J.C.S.Lin編，《The Search for Immortality: Tomb Treasures of Han China》，劍橋，2012年，編號143。另可參考von Oertzen男爵伉儷舊藏一件青玉帶沁虎符，見S.H.Hansford著，《Jade - Essence of Hills and Streams》，約翰內斯堡，1969年，頁106，其後售於佳士得南肯辛頓，2008年11月7日，拍品編號241（之一）。