A RARE AND IMPORTANT JADE ‘CROUCHING BEAR’ PLAQUE, LATE SHANG DYNASTY, 13TH-11TH CENTURY BC
This lot is from a single owner collection and is therefore offered without reserve

Published: 
1. Filippo Salviati, The Language of Adornment. Chinese Ornaments of Jade, Crystal, Amber and Glass, Myrna Myers, Paris, 2002, no. 11.
2. Jean-Paul Desroches (ed.) et al, Two Americans in Paris. A Quest for Asian Art, Paris, 2016, p. 55, no. 108.

China. Finely carved in the form of a crouching bear shown in profile, the body neatly detailed with double-line grooves that emphasize features such as the eye and ear. The mostly opaque stone now of an ivory-white color with hints of deep green and russet inclusions, a tiny section remaining subtly translucent.

Provenance: The Collection of Sam and Myrna Myers, Paris, France. Acquired between circa 1965-2012.
Condition: Good condition with expected wear, signs of prolonged burial and traces of weathering with associated tiny losses, some erosion, extensive calcification, minuscule nibbling, minute nicks, and an old smoothened chip.

Weight: 20 g
Dimensions: Height 5.4 cm

Small animal-shaped carvings form one of the main categories of the Shang and early Western Zhou dynasty jades. A higher level of carving and artistic skills were developed during the late Shang period such as relief carving and double-line incision, as demonstrated by the present lot.

Plaques of this type are among the Shang dynasty jade artifacts discovered in the Tomb of Fu Hao, located at Yinxu, the ruins of the ancient Shang capital, now within modern Anyang in Henan Province, China. Discovered in 1976 by archaeologist Zheng Zhenxiang, the tomb was identified as the final resting place of Queen and military general Fu Hao, who died around 1200 BC. Likely the Lady Hao mentioned in oracle bone inscriptions by King Wu Ding, Fu Hao was one of his many wives. The tomb's excavation revealed 755 jade objects, including not only contemporary Shang pieces but also jades from the Longshan, Liangzhu, Hongshan, and Shijiahe cultures. Remarkably, it is the only Shang royal tomb found intact, with its contents undisturbed, likely due to its remote location, far from other known burial sites.

The bear has been a popular totemic emblem in China since ancient times. China's foundation myths hold that the legendary Yellow Emperor, or Huang Di, early on lived with his tribe in the northwest, presumably in modern Shanxi Province, but then later migrated to Zhuolu, in present-day Hebei Province, where he became a farmer and tamed six different types of ferocious beasts, including the bear, or xiong, with which the Yellow Emperor ever since has been linked. According to legend, Gun — said to have been the great-grandson of the Yellow Emperor and the father of Yu the Great, or Da Yu — stole a special soil with which he planned to build dikes in an attempt to control the Yellow River's constantly recurring and very devastating floods. He failed in his mission, however, and, as punishment for his theft, was killed by Zhurong, the God of Fire. Gun's corpse turned into a yellow bear, or huangxiong, and jumped into a pool. A while later, a golden bear, alternatively said to be a golden dragon, emerged from the corpse's stomach and ascended into heaven, where the Yellow Emperor instructed it to complete his father's work in taming the Yellow River's waters. That bear turned out to be Da Yu, who — according to popular belief — heroically controlled the floods and became the mythological forefather of China's Xia dynasty. Thus, the bear has been prominently associated with legendary rulers and Chinese national foundation myths since the earliest times.

Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related jade bear unearthed from the tomb of Fu Hao and now in the National Museum of China.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 1 April 2018, lot 3095
Price: HKD 437,500 or approx. EUR 54,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A rare calcified jade ‘dragon’ pendant, late Shang-early Western Zhou dynasty
Expert remark: Compare the related manner of carving, stone, and size (4.3 cm).

Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Bonhams Hong Kong, 30 May 2017, lot 19
Price: HKD 375,000 or approx. EUR 47,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A jade ox, late Shang dynasty
Expert remark: Compare the related manner of carving, stone, and size (4.8 cm).