A rare archaic yellowish-green jade 'humanoid figure' pendant


Western Zhou DynastyThickly walled with a central channel, the standing figure with a round face flanked by two ears, the thick eyebrows incised above a pair of diagonal eyes and a smiling mouth, rendering a peaceful expression, the hands held below the chest with further incised bird-shaped designs, carved with two grooves with double-line incisions representing layers of clothes, the back carved geometric scrolls with hairs and scrolls, the stone of yellowish-green tone with some reddish brown inclusions, box. 3.8cm (1 1/2in) long (2).
|西周 玉雕人面紋飾Compare with an archaic jade pendant carved with a related face design, Shang dynasty, in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated by Yang Boda, Zhongguo yuqi quanji: zhong, Shijiazhuang, 2005, p.181, no.178. Compare also with an archaic jade figure unearthed in Shannxi Province, with a similar face, illustrated by Gu Fang, The Pictorial Handbook of Ancient Chinese Jades, Beijing, 2007, p.153. Two further related examples in British Museum, London are illustrated by J.Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 2002, p.282, fig.1.黃玉偏青，淡棕色沁，圓雕人面立像，尖臉，方目，大耳，鼻呈卷雲狀，耳兩側凸起似為髪飾，雙手垂拱，上刻鳥紋，裙帶以陰刻線條簡易為之，背面亦刻陰線，線條疏簡流暢。自頭頂至裙底穿孔。圓雕人物形玉器始見於商代，至西周的玉雕人物，或裸體，或著衫。著衫者頭部往往戴冠，面部深沉端莊，雙手垂拱，上衣下裳，或為貴族人物裝扮，本件拍品即為此類。上海博物館藏一件商代人面紋玉飾可比較之，惟只有面像，見楊伯達著，《中國玉器全集（上）》，石家莊，2005年，頁181，編號178。另可比較一件陝西出土之西周玉人，面部與此頗似，見古方著，《中國古玉器圖典》，北京，2007年，頁153。大英博物館藏有兩件西周青玉人像飾件亦資參考，見J.Rawson著，《Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing》，倫敦，2002年，頁282，圖1。