Jade. China, Eastern Zhou, Spring and Autumn period, 5th - 4th century BC 虎形玉飾 - 東周, 春秋, 公元前5世紀-前4世紀 This adorable, very small crouching animal, probably a tiger, has an almost threedimensional, sculptural appearance that is rarely seen in Eastern Zhou jades. The two sides of the body are finely decorated with an intricate carving of scrolls in low relief that also highlight the limbs of the animal: the front right paw is lifted and touches the chin that is decorated with etched crisscrossing lines. The tail is raised and adorned with parallel, slightly twisted lines. A smooth groove extends from the chest towards the bottom of the body, where it separates the legs of the animal. Finely engraved parallel lines run along the contour of the bottom of the limbs. The ivory-coloured jade is almost totally calcified and heavily dusted with red encrustations which further enhance the details of the pattern. A comparable carving was found in 1964 in tomb no.84 of the Eastern Zhou cemetery excavated at Fenshuiling, Changzhi city in Shanxi province. See Yang Boda (ed.), Zhongguo yuqi quanji: 3, Chunqiu Zhanguo 中国玉器全集/3/春秋战国 (Chinese Jades: 3, Spring and Autumn and Warring States), Hebei 1993, no.149. See also Gu Fang, Zhongguo gu yuqi tu dian 中國古玉器圖典 (The pictorial handbook of ancient Chinese jades), Beijing 2007, p.194. A second similar carving is in the collections of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan, and published in Gugong gu yu tu lu 故宫古玉圖錄 (Illustrated Catalogue of Ancient Jade Artefacts), National Palace Museum, Taipei 1988, no.260. Provenance: From an old Austrian collection LENGTH 4 CM - WIDTH 2 CM 長4 厘米 -寬 2 厘米 Expertise: Univ. Prof. Filippo Salviati All jades in this catalogue have been professionally examined, authenticated and dated by Univ. Prof. Filippo Salviati. Professor Salviati teaches Chinese and Korean art at Sapienza University in Rome, in the Italian Institute of Oriental Studies. He is a world expert on archaic Chinese jades, having released multiple publications and being cited by renowned auction houses such as Sotheby’s.