A SMALL CELADON AND RUSSET JADE ‘PIG DRAGON’, ZHULONG, HONGSHAN CULTURE
This lot is from a single owner collection and is therefore offered without reserve

Published: Myrna Myers (ed.) & Filippo Salviati (auth.), The Language of Adornment. Chinese Ornaments of Jade, Crystal, Amber and Glass, Paris, 2002, no. 5.

China, Neolithic period, c. 3500-3000 BC. Superbly carved as a small pig-dragon (zhulong), coiling around so that the straight tail abuts the jaw of the powerful head. The face is detailed with bulging eyes, a wrinkled snout and flared nostrils, the slit below the sealed lips meets the central perforation, and the neck is drilled for suspension. The semi-translucent stone is of a pale yellowish-green color with patches of russet inclusions and creamy white.

Provenance: The Collection of Sam and Myrna Myers, Paris, France. Acquired between circa 1965-2012.
Condition: Very good condition with minor wear, signs of prolonged burial, traces of weathering, minuscule nibbling, the stone with natural inclusions and fissures, some of which may have developed into small hairline cracks.

Weight: 28 g
Dimensions: Height 4 cm

The coiled pig-dragon (zhulong) which likely developed from the earlier slit ring and quite possibly the prototype of the dragon in Chinese art, is one of the principal jade forms of the Hongshan culture. A quintessential artifact, it reflects the Hongshan people's mature and complex belief system centered on supernatural forces. Though both its facial design and body shape influenced later periods such as the Liangzhu and Shang, the form itself seems to have vanished with the disappearance of the Hongshan people. Archaeologists have identified the Liaoxi and Liaodong peninsulas and the upper and lower valleys of the Liao River as the heartland of the culture, where numerous jade zhulong have been unearthed—often from tombs, placed on the chest of the deceased, suggesting they were worn as chest ornaments. Fragments found at a goddess temple in Niuheliang, Liaoning province, further imply a possible connection to fertility rituals. See related discussion by Elizabeth Childs-Johnson in “Jades of the Hongshan Culture,” Arts Asiatiques, vol. XLVI, December 1991, pp. 82-95.

Literature comparison:
Compare a related jade zhulong, 7.8 cm high, dated to the late Hongshan culture, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, and included in their permanent exhibition Art in Quest of Heaven and Truth. Masterpieces of Jades in the Museum Collection. Compare a related jade zhulong, 9.5 cm high, in the Chinese University of Hong Kong Art Museum, accession number 1997.0418.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 18 April 2024, lot 506
Price: HKD 203,200 or approx. EUR 22,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A celadon jade 'pig-dragon' pendant, Neolithic period, Hongshan culture
Expert remark: Compare the closely related form, manner of carving, stone, and size (4.4 cm).

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie’s New York, 21 March 2025, lot 1004
Price: USD 63,000 or approx. EUR 54,000 converted at the time of writing
Description: A very rare pale greyish-green and russet jade ‘pig dragon’, Neolithic period, Hongshan culture, 4th-3rd millennium BC
Expert remark: Compare the closely related form, manner of carving, and stone. Note the size (5.3 cm).