Pendant with Paired Phoenix and Dragons

CultureChinese

Date4th-3rd century B.C.E.

MediumJade (nephrite)

DimensionsOverall: 2 5/8 × 2 1/8 × 1/8 inches (6.67 × 5.4 × 0.32 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust

Object number35-88

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

East Asian Art

Terms

DescriptionOpen work jade pendant in the form of confronted phoenixes and addorsed dragons, engraved on both sides.Gallery Label

Gallery Label

A material that was durable and valued, jade was frequently handed down for generations, centuries or even millennia, before being buried in a tomb. Although these pendants were made at different times, it would have been quite possible for them to have been strung in the manner that they are displayed here, for use as a pectoral, or chest ornament. The dragons and bird heads on the bottom pendant are typical of middle to late Western Zhou, circa the late 10th-9th century B.C.E.

Provenance

Purchased through Laurence Sickman by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1935.

Published References

Catalogue of the International Exhibition of Chinese Art 1935-6, 3rd ed. (London: Royal Academy of Arts, 1935), no. 350 (repro.).

Oriental Art in America: Recent Accessions in American Museums (Chicago: New Orient society of America, 1937), pl. 36b (repro.).

Alfred Salmony, Carved Jade of Ancient China (Berkeley, California: Gillick, 1938), 61, pl. XLVI, no. 3 (repro.).

The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, The William Rockhill Nelson Collection, 3rd ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1949), 133 (repro.).

Judith and Arthur Hart Burling, Chinese Art (New York: Studio, 1953), Pl.263 (repro.).

von Martin Feddersen, Chinesisches Kunstgewerbe: ein Handbuch für Sammler und Liebhaber (Braunschweig: Klinkhardt & Biermann, 1955), 174 (repro.).

Sueji Umehara, Shina Kogyoku Zuroku (Kyoto: Kuwana Bunseido, Showa 30, 1955), pl. VIII (repro.).

Ross E. Taggart, ed., Handbook of the Collections in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 4th ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1959), 178 (repro.).

Michael Sullivan, An Introduction to Chinese Art (Berkeley: University of California, 1961), pl. 31 (repro.).

Hugo Munsterberg, Der Ferne Osten (Baden-Baden: Holle, 1968), 31 (repro.).

S. Howard Hansford, Chinese Carved Jades (London: Faber, 1968), pl. 40B (repro.).

Ross E. Taggart, George L. McKenna, and Marc F. Wilson, eds., Handbook of the Collections in The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City, Missouri, vol. II, Art of the Orient. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1973), 22 (repro.).

Apollo, special issue for the Asian art collection in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Vol. XCVII, no. 133 (March 1973), 56, no. 14 (repro.).

William Watson, L'art de l'ancienne Chine (Paris: Editions d'art Lucien Mazenod, 1979), 462, no. 587(repro.).

Danielle Elisseeff, Vadime Elisseeff, La Civilization de la Chine Classique, vol. 16 (Paris: Arthaud, 1979), pl. 184 (repro.).

Roger Ward and Patricia J. Fidler, eds., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection (New York: Hudson Hills Press, in association with Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993), 336 (repro.).

Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), 298, no. 49 (repro.).

Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.