Expert authentication: Dr. Gu Fang has examined the present lot and confirms its authenticity and the dating above, noting the style of cutting, workmanship, and thickness and quality of stone with decomposed areas indicating burial all suggest a dating to ca. 475-221 BC. He assessed it as a piece of notably good quality. A signed copy of Dr. Gu's expertise, dated 1 April 2022, accompanies this lot.
Dr. Gu Fang (born 1962) is an internationally renowned scholar of Chinese art and a leading authority on jades. He graduated from the Department of Archaeology at the prestigious Beijing University in 1986 and later studied at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), where he now serves as a Senior Fellow specializing in archaeological excavations and Chinese jade research. A former visiting scholar at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, he has authored several books on Chinese jades, including the 15-volume The Complete Collection of Jades Unearthed in China (2007), one of the most comprehensive studies of its kind, as well as Chinese Jade: The Spiritual and Cultural Significance of Jade in China (2012).

China, 475-221 BC. The crouching dragon shown in profile and carved on both sides with scrolls and scales and a striated band running along the center, beveled edge, with a suspension hole drilled from one side. The stone is of a pale yellow color with dark russet veins and opaque areas of creamy beige tone.

Provenance: From a private collection in New York, United States. Two labels inscribed with inventory numbers, ‘16397’ and ‘85658’.
Condition: Superb condition, commensurate with age. Extensive wear, signs of weathering and erosion, encrustations, a small area of deterioration to the tip of the ear, the stone with natural fissures, some of which have developed into small hairline cracks.

Weight: 50 g
Dimensions: Length 9.9 cm

The tiger, called hu or laohu in Chinese, is among the most recognizable of the world’s charismatic megafauna. Originating in China and northern Central Asia, the tiger was known to the earliest Chinese, who likely feared, admired, and respected it for its strength, ferocity, and regal bearing. Though its precise symbolism in Shang times remains unknown, the tiger doubtless played a totemic, tutelary, or talismanic role. By the Western Han period, the tiger was regarded as the ‘king of the hundred beasts’ (baishou zhi wang), due its power and ferocity and especially to the markings on its forehead which typically resemble the character wang (for ‘king’). In addition, not only did the tiger figure among the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac, but it gained a place among the auspicious animals that symbolize the four cardinal directions –the white tiger, or baihu, of the west, the azure dragon of the east, the vermillion bird of the south, and the black tortoise of the north.

In the Zhou dynasty, the number of jades in burial sites increased significantly, as multiple plaques and beads were sewn or strung together and draped over the face and body of the deceased. Jades in the forms of figures and animals became increasingly realistic, and surface patterns became more complex and highly decorative. Each side of this flat jade pendant is embellished with identical imagery that shows the tiger crouching and set to pounce; its large head lowered, its mouth open, its fangs bared, its sizable forequarters tensed, its tail curled, this tiger exemplifies power, virility, and ferocity.

Literature comparison:
Compare a related jade pendant of a tiger, dated to the Spring and Autumn period, 7.7 cm long, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, accession number 故00083990.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie’s New York, 19 March 2015, lot 580
Price: USD 40,000 or approx. EUR 51,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A buff-colored opaque jade tiger pendant, China, Eastern Zhou dynasty, 6th-5th century BC
Expert remark: Compare the closely related form, manner of carving with similar incised scrolls and striated band, and size (10.2 cm).

Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Sotheby’s New York, 23 September 2020, lot 568
Price: USD 403,200 or approx. EUR 472,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: An archaic jade 'tiger' plaque, Eastern Zhou dynasty
Expert remark: Compare the related form and manner of carving. Note the size (14 cm).