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Published: Robert P. Youngman, The Youngman Collection: Chinese Jades from Neolithic to Qing, Chicago, 2008, p. 49, no. 38.
China, c. 1600-1050 BC. The bead carved in the form of a compact bird with angular face terminating in a pair of curved ram’s horns, hooked beak, and triangular eyes with circular pupils. The cylindrical body is engraved with archaistic scrolls and stylized wings, and raised on two taloned feet. The stone is pierced vertically from both ends for suspension. The semi-translucent stone is of a pale, yellowish-green color with faint russet veining, tiny opaque inclusions, and a fine, soft polish.
Provenance: Alvin Lo Oriental Art, New York, late 1990s-early 2000s. Collection of Robert P. Youngman, New York, acquired from the above and thence by descent. Alvin Lo and Robert Youngman became acquainted after Lo moved to New York in 1997. Youngman had already bought from his father in the 1970s and would become a good client of Lo’s. Numerous pieces published in the book Chinese Jades: The Youngman Collection. From Neolithic to Qing, like the present lot, were acquired by Robert Youngman from Alvin Lo. Alvin Lo is a fourth-generation art collector and dealer specializing in Asian art, with particular expertise in Chinese jades and works of art. He is the fourth son of P. C. Lu, one of the most influential Hong Kong art dealers of the twentieth century. Raised in a family deeply rooted in the art world, Lo developed an early and discerning eye for quality and authenticity. In the 1990s, he founded Alvin Lo Oriental Art in Midtown Manhattan before returning to Hong Kong in the mid-2000s, where he continues his work. Over the past decades, he has published numerous scholarly catalogs and organized exhibitions internationally. Robert P. Youngman (1940-2018) was an investment advisor, philanthropist, and a great enthusiast of Asian art. In 1976, he founded the investment management firm Granite State Corporation, now known as Griffin Asset Management. Youngman joined the Board of Trustees of Middlebury College in 1980 and served as Chairman of its Board for several years. Besides forming an impressive collection himself, he established endowed funds at his alma mater to support the acquisition and curation of Asian art, and authored two books, one on Chinese porcelain and the other on Chinese jades, where the present lot is included.
Condition: Very good condition with minor wear, few tiny nibbles around the beak. The stone with natural fissures, some of which may have developed into thin hairline cracks.
Weight: 30 g
Dimensions: Height 2.6 cm
With an associated padded storage box. (2)
Horned birds such as the present figure are often identified as owls and feature prominently among the arts of the Shang dynasty. The bird’s nocturnal and binocular vision and its binaural hearing and hunting skill were revered from the Neolithic period, when the earliest jade carvings of owls were made. The owl’s terrifying screech would have fit the perception of abnormality in ritual and magic, and it is most likely that the bird played a significant role in Shang belief. It has been suggested that the mythical black bird (xuanniao) from which the Shang people were believed to have originated was in fact an owl. Alternatively, Sun Xinzhou has suggested that the mythical ancestor Di Jun (also known as Di Ku, Shun) can be identified with the owl deity protector of agriculture (Sun Xinzhou, ‘Chixiao chongbai huaxia lishi wenming’ [On the strigidae worship and historical civilization in China], Journal of Tianjin Normal University (Social Sciences), no. 5, 2004, pp 31-7).
Very similar owl-form jades and bronze zun vessels were excavated in the tomb of Lady Hao. The tomb is an important archaeological site located at Yinxu, the ruins of the ancient Shang dynasty capital Yin, within modern-day Anyang in Henan Province, China. Discovered in 1976 by archaeologist Zheng Zhenxiang, the tomb was identified as the final resting place of Queen and military general Fu Hao, who died around 1200 BC. Fu Hao is believed to be the Lady Hao mentioned in oracle bone inscriptions by King Wu Ding and one of his many wives. The tomb contained an extraordinary array of artifacts, including 755 jade objects, which encompassed both contemporary Shang jades and older pieces from the Longshan, Liangzhu, Hongshan, and Shijiahe cultures. Notably, the Tomb of Fu Hao is the only Shang royal tomb discovered intact, with its contents undisturbed, likely due to its remote location, far from other known burial sites. This pristine condition has provided invaluable insights into Shang dynasty culture and the significance of jade in their ritual practices.
Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related jade mythical bird, dated Shang dynasty, 5.7 cm tall, excavated from the tomb of Lady Hao in 1976, and now in the National Museum of China.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 2 April 2019, lot 3416
Price: HKD 350,000 or approx. EUR 43,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A celadon and russet jade figure of an owl, Shang dynasty
Expert remark: Compare the closely related manner of carving, decoration, and subject. Note the size (3.5 cm) and that this figure was also previously in the Youngman Collection and is published in the same book as the present lot.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie’s Hong Kong, 30 November 2020, lot 2714
Price: HKD 2,250,000 or approx. EUR 273,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A celadon jade carving of an owl, Shang dynasty, c. 1600-1046 BC
Expert remark: Compare the closely related manner of carving, decoration, and subject. Note the size (4.8 cm).
Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Bonhams New York, 20 September 2021, lot 138
Price: USD 44,062 or approx. EUR 46,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A grey-celadon, russet and black Jade owl pendant, Shang dynasty or later
Expert remark: Compare the closely related manner of carving, decoration, and subject. Note the size (5.3 cm) and that this figure was also previously in the Youngman Collection and is published in the same book as the present lot.
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