Jade ring (huan) with ‘rice-grain’ pattern

A jade ring with a wide central aperture.  The inner and outer edges of the disc are slightly raised.  Both sides of the disc are carved with neatly arranged rows of comma-shaped spirals in low relief.  The stone retains a high degree of translucency and is of predominantly pale green colour, with strong grey markings.  The stone is smoothly polished on both sides.

•  Unlike the bi disc, which is thought to have a purely ritual purpose, the ring shape or huan may have been made for use as an ornament.  Rawson argues that the pattern of neatly arranged spirals on an uneven surface seems ‘..to have been designed to catch the light and produce varied patterns of reflection.’ 1   Similar rings are in the Hotung collection2 and in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei.3 

1. Rawson, J. Chinese Jade – From the Neolithic to the Qing, London 1995, p. 253
2. Rawson, J. op. cit. no. 15:2, p. 253
3. A Catalogue of the National Palace Museum’s Special Exhibition of Circular Jade, Taipei, 1995, no. 63 pp. 106-7