Cicada
CultureChinese
DateWestern Zhou dynasty (1045-771 B.C.E.)
MediumJade (nephrite)
DimensionsOverall: 2 3/16 × 11/16 × 7/16 inches (5.56 × 1.75 × 1.11 cm)
Credit LineGift of Eskenazi, Ltd.
Object number2003.15
On View
On viewGallery Location
- 232
Collections
DescriptionRich green triangular-shaped jade with inclusions carved in low relief on the obverse and reverse with an image of a cicada. It is pierced at the end near the cicada head. Minor traces of red pigment in relief grooves.Jade cicada of flattened form, the rounded head tapering to a ridge at the top, and pierced with a small hole for suspension. The insect is carved in low relief with identical decoration on the obverse and the reverse - highly stylized head, thorax and wings. The wing segment is in the form of a stylized triangle filled with scrolls and grooves on each side. The legs are clasped to either side of the head, terminating in 'claws'. The semi-translucent nephrite is of a rich green tone with minor buff inclusions.Exhibition History
Chinese Works of Art From the Stoclet Collection, Eskenazi, New York, Pacewildenstein, March 25 - April 5, 2003.
The cicada is often used as a motif in early Chinese bronzes and jades. The cicada's ability to emerge from the ground and assume another form symbolized rebirth and metamorphosis. Jades carved in the form of cicadas were often placed in the mouth of the deceased as "tongue amulets". This piece, however, appears to have been used as a pendant on account of the pierced hole on top allowing it to be suspended.
Guiseppe Eskenazi (US) Ltd.;
His gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2003.
H.F.E. Visser, Asiatic Art in Private Collections of Holland and Belgium (New York; Amsterdam: Beechhurst, 1948), 194-195, pl. 57, no. 101 (repro.).
Georges A. Salles, Daisy Lion-Goldschmidt, Collection Adolphe Stoclet (Brussels: 1956), 348-349 (repro.).
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