China, 1046 BC to 256 BC. Carved on each side, the ornament with a central rectangular section incised with a pair of confronting beast masks, perforated with a central aperture drilled from both sides, all flanked by a pair of sinuous phoenixes carved in partial openwork. The translucent stone of a creamy white tone with deep brown inclusions, as well as russet veins, and little calcification.

Provenance: From the Sam and Myrna Myers Collection. Sam and Myrna are first generation Americans, who shared a taste for collecting beautiful objects of art. On a trip to Ascona, Switzerland, the couple stumbled into a small antique shop which started their journey of collecting antiques. When Sam Myers was sent to Paris by his law firm in the mid-1960s, he and his wife Myrna became so enamored with the city that they decided to make it their home. There, over the course of 50 years, they built an extraordinary art collection, and in 1976, Myrna opened a gallery in Paris specializing in Asian art. Their collection spans a wide range of precious objects from Chinese jades, ceramics, textiles, Indian ivory carvings, to Japanese clothing and lacquer, some of which was exhibited in the Kimbell Art Museum. Part of their collection was sold at Sotheby’s, London ‘Two Americans in Paris, The Collection of Sam and Myrna Myers’, on 4 November 2021. The couple also worked together with jade expert Filippo Salviati to create one of the most outstanding jade collections globally and authored several books on jade, including ‘Radiant Stones’ (2000), ‘The Language of Adornment’ (2002) and ‘Genèse de l’empire céleste’ (2020).
Condition: Good condition, commensurate with age. Natural imperfections, losses to one side, nibbles to the edges, and few fissures.

Weight: 43.1 g
Dimensions: Height 4.8 cm

Literature comparison:
Compare a related jade ornament with mask, c. 600-476 BC, in the collection of the National Museum of Asian Art, accession number S1987.639.