Archaic Jade carved Bi. Brown and cream color with semi-translucent material. Carved with bands of scrolling designs on its outer border and comma designs on its inner band. The Bi disk is known as the symbol of heaven. All over with sharp details and a soft polish and silky patina. Mounted on a museum style stand. The aperture is approximately 1 1/2” diameter. Total diameter approximately 6 1/4”. Han Dynasty.
For Three Similar Examples See;Chinese Archaic Jades, C.T. Loo, 1950, Plate XXXVIII, #2, 3, and #6 Listed As Eastern Chou.
For Another Similar Example See; Christie's - New York, September 17, 2008 Lot #343
A LARGE PALE GREY JADE DISC, BI
HAN DYNASTY, 2ND-1ST CENTURY BC
Both sides with a plain inner and outer border, with a wide band of comma spirals set within an inner striated border and an outer
band carved with outward-facing bovine masks with long, scrolling horns, the pale greenish-grey stone with some opaque beige
alteration
8 5/16 in. (21 cm.) diam., box
Pre-Lot Text
PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF MR. AND MRS. MALCOLM E. MCPHERSON
Provenance
Private collection, Washington, DC, early 1970s.
Lot Notes
A group of silmilarly carved bi, dated c. 122 BC, were found on the lower part of the jade suit of the King of Nanyue at Xinggang, Guangzhou, Guangdong province. See J. Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, p. 73, fig. 67, and Gu Fang, The Complete Collection of Unearthed Jades in China, vol. 11, Beijing, 2005, no. 51. Compare two other similar bi illustrated by the Institute of Archaeology, Excavations of the Han Tombs at Mancheng, vol. II, Beijing, 1980, pl. CCX, figs. 1 and 2.
