AN EXTRAORDINARY WHITE JADE ‘TIGER’ PENDANT, EASTERN ZHOU – HANJade. China, late Eastern Zhou – Han dynasty, c. 3rd-2nd century BCThis wonderful openwork pendant in white jade from the Central Asian region of Khotan is carved as a powerful tiger in profile. The striding animal is portrayed close to the ground, with slightly bent legs, a turned down head and a menacing, open mouth ready to seize its prey. The elongated body is marked by stylized, undulating stripes, while fine parallel lines carved on the limbs and below the neck suggest the fur. The body is sculpted in low relief, giving the animal an additional three-dimensional quality, and rests on a border made of stylized clouds or vapour that almost alludes to the supernatural qualities of the animal. A suspension loop is carved at the centre of the tiger’s back. The beautifully translucent white jade turns to a deep black color near the edges, while the edges are calcified into a grey-beige color.This pendant is almost identical to a famous carving in the Musée national des arts asiatiques – Guimet (accession number MG 18437), in Paris, that was originally part of the collection of archaic jades of Dr. G. Gieseler (d. 1933), one of the earliest to be formed in the Western world at the beginning of the 20th century. The jade is reproduced in A. Salmony, Carved jade of ancient China, 1982 reprint, London, pl.67 no. 1, and in J. P. Desroches, Asie Extrême. Chine, Corée, Japon, Vietnam, Paris 1993, pl. 9. The design is identical on both jades, including minor details such as the suspension loop and the stylized clouds at the tiger’s feet, but the pendant in the Musée Guimet is bigger and flatter, without the tactile three-dimensional quality of the present carving.LENGTH 8 cmProvenance: Private Collection of Irene and Wolfgang Zacke (1942-2022).