25th Jul, 2025 11:00
Three-Day Auction: Asian Art Discoveries
931
A PALE CELADON JADE ‘DRAGON AND PHOENIX’ PENDANT, EASTERN ZHOU DYNASTY
Sold for €910
including Buyer's Premium
China, 4th-3rd century BC. Of flattened form, finely carved in openwork on both sides as a dragon shown in profile intertwined with a phoenix. The surface decorated with minute incision work and comma scrolls, some of which are interconnected. The translucent stone is of a celadon tone with icy veining, cloudy inclusions, and areas of alteration.
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, with ancient wear. Signs of weathering and erosion, minute nicks, natural flaws, few shallow chips which have been smoothened over time, remnants of pigment, and small losses. The jade with natural fissures, some of which have developed into hairline cracks.
Weight: 24.5 g
Dimensions: Height 7 cm
Literature comparison:
Compare a related celadon jade ‘dragon’ pendant, 9.1 cm long, dated 475-221 BC, in the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, accession number S1987.867.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Christie’s London, 14 May 2014, lot 801
Price: GBP 8,125 or approx. EUR 15,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A carved and pierced jade ‘dragon’ pendant and a jade bi disc, Eastern Zhou dynasty
Expert remark: Compare the related form and carving style. Note the absence of the phoenix. Note this lot includes a bi disk.
China, 4th-3rd century BC. Of flattened form, finely carved in openwork on both sides as a dragon shown in profile intertwined with a phoenix. The surface decorated with minute incision work and comma scrolls, some of which are interconnected. The translucent stone is of a celadon tone with icy veining, cloudy inclusions, and areas of alteration.
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, with ancient wear. Signs of weathering and erosion, minute nicks, natural flaws, few shallow chips which have been smoothened over time, remnants of pigment, and small losses. The jade with natural fissures, some of which have developed into hairline cracks.
Weight: 24.5 g
Dimensions: Height 7 cm
Literature comparison:
Compare a related celadon jade ‘dragon’ pendant, 9.1 cm long, dated 475-221 BC, in the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, accession number S1987.867.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Christie’s London, 14 May 2014, lot 801
Price: GBP 8,125 or approx. EUR 15,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A carved and pierced jade ‘dragon’ pendant and a jade bi disc, Eastern Zhou dynasty
Expert remark: Compare the related form and carving style. Note the absence of the phoenix. Note this lot includes a bi disk.
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