Jade ornamental plaque

A jade ornamental plaque in the form of a hooked cloud form, the top bowed and ending in fish-tail finials, the bottom section formed by four bowed arches. The stone is a mixture of dark green tones, interspersed with areas of mottled brown colour.

The fact that Neolithic jades were valued by early people is proved by the find of a fragment of a comparable jade Hongshan plaque, excavated from a Western Zhou (1046 – 771 BC) tomb in Shaanxi province.[1] A very similar plaque was exhibited by J.J. Lally in New York in 2016.[2]

1. Rawson, J. Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, British Museum Press, London 1995, fig 7, p. 23 (top right)
2. Lally, J.J. Ancient Chinese Jade: From the Neolithic to the Han, April 2016, no. 14