15 cm. wide (6 in.)

This intricate design and powerful features on this rare huang pendant display a high degree of sophistication by the lapidary artist. Although jade representations of tigers are seen in earlier periods, the rounded, powerful features of the tiger heads on the current huang were only seen during a relatively short period from the Eastern Zhou to the Han dynasty. A pair of tiger-form pendants in the Cleveland Museum of Art Collection and another from the tomb of King Nan Yue at Canton, are illustrated in Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, British Museum Press, London, 1995, p. 262, figs. 9 and 10. The author suggests that the use of tigers during this period could be attributed to influences from the work of the steppe peoples on the borders of China.
Compare the current huang with an example in the Beijing Palace Museum Collection, also composed of pairs of dragons and tigers, illustrated in Zhongguo Yuqi Quanji, vol. 4, Hebei Chubanshe, 1993, no. 287. Although there are many similarities in the style of the carving, the heads of the tigers in the Palace Museum example coiled back in a s-shape to face each other rather than facing away from each other as on the present huang. Another huang, with similarly rendered dragons paired with phoenix rather than tigers, is illustrated by Yang Boda in Zhongguo Yuqi Quanji, vol. I, Shijiazhuang, 2005, p. 316, fig. 306. Compare, also, a huang featuring tigers, phoenixes and a dragon in the Lan Tian Shan Fang Collection illustrated in Relics of and Immutable Heritage – Jades from the Lan Tien Shan Fang Collection, Chinese Jade – Selected Articles from Orientations 1983-2003,Hong Kong, 2005, p. 162, fig. 5.

Price estimate:
HKD: 200,000-300,000
USD: 25,800-38,700

Auction Result:
Withdrawn