China, 11th-10th century BC. Flattened plaque finely carved in the form of a fish with an elegantly curved tail and long snout, finely incised with round eyes as well as gills and fins. Slightly translucent stone of a dark green hue with cloudy yellow inclusions, russet patches, and gray calcification.
Provenance: Collection of Robert and Isabelle de Strycker, and thence by descent in the same family. Robert de Strycker (1903-1968) was a French engineer who specialized in metallurgy. He was a Stanford graduate, a professor at the University of Leuven, a director of the Institute of Metallurgy at the Université Catholique de Louvain, and one of the most influential members of the faculty of applied sciences. After World War II, he made large contributions to France’s post-war recovery. Robert and his wife Isabelle (1915-2010) first encountered Chinese art at the British Museum during a stay in London in the 1930s. Enamored with the style and beauty, they both decided to study and collect Chinese works of art. In 1938, they eventually began to build their collection, buying from Belgian, Parisian, and English dealers. They kept close contact with the famous English collector Sir Harry Garner (1891-1977) and noted Czech collector and expert Fritz Low-Beer (1906-1976).
Condition: Good condition, commensurate with age. Extensive wear, losses, signs of weathering and erosion, scratches, chips, encrustations. Remnants of an aperture for suspension near the mouth.
Weight: 11.4 g
Dimensions: Length 12.3 cm
Literature comparison:
Compare a related jade fish, 12 cm long, dated to the Western Zhou dynasty, in the Minneapolis Institute of Art, accession number 50.46.361. Compare a related fish pendant, 11 cm long, dated c. 1100-950 BC, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, accession number FE.141-1974.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Christie’s Hong Kong, 30 November 2020, lot 2271
Price: HKD 60,000 or approx. EUR 7,400 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A greenish-white, jade fish-form pendant, Western Zhou dynasty
Expert remark: Note the much smaller size (9.5 cm).
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