Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells.....
........here comes Santa's helpers in the guise of archaic jade deer to celebrate Christmas 2016. Instead of Santa's traditional reindeer, I will present in this post, my pair of jade deer purportedly from Shang-Xizhou dynasty (1600-221BC)
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| Celebrating Christmas 2016 with my archaic jade deer |
Left deer measures 3.5cm and right deer measures 3cm. (pic below) They are simply carved on both sides with heads turned back and a few incised lines on their bodies. Although much of the jade is still smooth and lustrous the hooves and antlers show signs of patination and alteration. The remains of ancient toolmarks, an indicator of age can be seen in all the unpolished grooves and perforations.
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| Reverse view |
Left behind quartz stones in the narrow crevices in between the antlers and the hoofs also point to the great age of these carvings, see enlargements below.
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| Quartz stone in the antlers |
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| Quartz stone in the hooves |
Spots of russet on the noses remind me of legendry Rudolph and leaves me wondering if they are indeed the ancient ancestors of the mythical Rudolph! :)
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| Rudolph the red nose reindeer..... |
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| .....had a very shiny nose.... |
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| ....Rudolph the red nose reindeer you will go down in history..... |
Back to the present, here's a contemporary scene with golden deer from Fairprice to celebrate Christmas 2016.
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| Merry Christmas 2016 with contemporary reindeer |
Merry Christmas to Jade Collectors !
