In celebration of archaic jade birds

A Chinese dealer sold me this group of 13 jade bird pendants  and  said they were from the Shang dynasty (16th-11th century BC)  My personal, if inexpert opinion is that they could date from Shang to Xi Zhou period (1046-771 BC) as these bird forms continue to be produced into 771 BC.

 

13 jade bird pendants







Lest I be accused of misattribution I must hasten to add that none of the birds have been authenticated by any authority/expert. I don't know how clever forgers are these days or what are the red flags in these small pieces.  However in support of their antiquity I would name several positive if general attributes such as presence of  tool marks and traces of cinnabar, carving style is of the period, and  patina and age of the stone appear genuine

The group of  13 birds consists of a pair of swans, 4 geese, 3 parrots, 2  flat mouth birds, one swallow and the last and smallest is one  which I cannot really identify. The birds are well carved with prominent beaks and have bodies decorated with simple cloud scrolls and raised lines. The nephrite jade is mostly altered to white.

 

 Five of the birds in the group belong to the waterfowl family and display elegant curved necks.

Swans and geese belong to waterfowl family



Swans are symbols of beauty and they mate for life. It is no wonder they are usually shown in pairs like the ones below. The swans measure 4.1 x 2cm.

 

Swans mate for life and come in pairs

2 of the geese  are carved as flat pieces while   the bottom piece , slightly bigger, is carved in the round with traces of cinnabar all over its body. They display the flexibility of their necks with a charming backward turning pose.

 

3 geese showing off their graceful necks



The gosling is cute, has an elongated beak and a  stringing hole pierced through its body.

 

Little gosling, not an ugly duckling.



This pair of birds, one taller than the other,  with short, flat mouths (beaks) and short stubby legs, are also interesting.  Both have holes bored through their beaks. I wonder what bird species is being depicted. Is it an owl ? Owl carvings were popular during Shang times.

2 birds with short beaks



The 3 parrots have arched backs, crests and curved beaks. The  two bigger parrots have holes for eyes and also holes at the feet. The small  parrot  is pierced  through the body.

A trio of parrots

 

The swallow with folded wings look like its descending from a height.

Swallow descending



It is pierced below the neck for stringing as a pendant.  Despite extensive pockmarks and corrosion on its body it is still an attractive piece (in my eyes)

Last and least (in size) is this little charmer which I am not even sure its a bird. Are those paws or wings that are clasped together ? It has a tail and the hole is bored through the clasped wings or paws.
It measures all of 1.8 x 0.9 cm.

 

Is this bird or animal ?



To sum up here are all the birds again highlighted with a touch of glowing light.

 

Birds with a long history

 



JADE JUE EAR ORNAMENTS

This is a pair of tiny jade jue ear ornaments I bought in China. Perhaps they are not even a matched pair as one is slightly larger than the other.

There is a piece of old quartz trapped/lodged in between the opening of the larger jue

According to one net source, this maybe a ploy employed by fakers to trick buyers into believing the antiquity of the object. The source also described a sure proof way to test whether the quartz was placed there by an ingenious forger. To try out the test I got myself a sharp tooth pick and pried at the quartz with all my strength. As it did not give way, it might have been glued on very securely or else it is genuinely ancient. Still I guess if I use a sharp blade and work at it it just might give way. Meanwhile I am quite pleased with my ancient quartz stuck in my ancient jade jue.

What Id like to know is did nature place quartz and jade jue together and they bound  through the course of time or was the quartz used for polishing/grinding and got left behind ? Another thought that struck me, is that the placement of the quartz actually makes a convenient loop for attachment as earring.

Most jues are larger and I cant account for the smallness of this pair which measures 1.7cm for the larger and 1.5cm for the smaller. If ancient they could date to around Shang/Xizhou dynasty (1600-221 BC)

Because of its small size,  I do suspect that this pair may have been recarved from a larger piece of  broken ancient jade. However all the edges appear worn and indicate that there is some age to  them.

Finallly here is a pic of 7  jues which were collected from Vietnam

The two jues at the bottom right are made of glass and not jade. These Vietnamese jues have a later date than the Chinese ones.