Chinese Ritual Jade Dragon Fuxi Statue-Qin Dyn. Archaistic & Beautiful

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Houghton USA Ancient Art, Antiques, & Fine Collectables Chinese Ritual Jade Dragon/Fuxi Statue Ritual First Emperor/Ruler or "Fuxi" in Ancient China Archaistic Jade in the Style of the Qin Dynasty (221 BC—210 BC) A gentleman always carried a jade pendant, as a symbol of class and to remind him the virtues of a gentleman, since those virtues were found in jade . —Confucius This remarkable Jade Dragon is made from a single piece of Nephrite Jade and Chinese experts believe it is an "archaistic jade" one made by Chinese artists in one period to imitate the work and style of a previous dynasty or culture. This jade was likely made in the Ming or Qing Dynasties to copy the style of Qin Dynasty piece from ancient China—(221 BC—210 BC). This was not meant to deceive anyone, but rather to honor the style of their ancient ancestors--much the same way that modern architects use marble collums in their building as the Greeks and Romans thousands of years ago. This Jade statue has a Human Head of a Man and a powerful Dragon body. He measures approximately 4.5” x 3.75” x 1.32 inches. It weighs about 361 gr. or 12.7 oz. or .80 lbs . of pure Nephrite Jade! WOW!! This Chinese Jade Dragon statue is thought to be an archastic jade of a Qin Dynasty (221 BC—206 BC) piece as the carving style, subject matter, details of the statue, and the weather condition of the jade all are identical to the original. Ancient Chinese myth believes that after the Supreme God “Pangu” created the universe, Sun, Moon, Heaven, and Earth, he then created the first man and women. The first man was known as Fuxi and the first woman as Nuwa—the Adam and Eve of ancient China. Fuxi had the head of a human and the body of a dragon, while Nuwa had a human head and the body of a serpent or snake. The dragon, known as “Lung” in Chinese, was also a symbol of imperial authority and ancient legends draw direct comparisons between the wisdom and divine power of a ruler and the omnipotent dragon. In the 3 rd Century BC, the Emperor Qin Shi Huang became obsessed with immortality and tried to compare himself the one of the earliest Emperors in China, Huang Di, who was a legendary icon that legend has portrayed was closely related to the Chinese Dragon. For it was at the end of Huang Di’s reported 100 year life in 2,598 BC, the legendary Emperor Huang Di, who is known as the Yellow Emperor, was thought to have been transformed into a dragon and then ascended into Heaven. It was 2,250 years latter that the Emperor Qin believed his path to immortality could follow the legendary Emperor Huang Di. The evidence suggests that this statue is a ritual offering to the Ancestors and Gods from Emperor Qin. Some experts believe the carved image of the human head on the body of the dragon was meant to be that of Emperor Qin, since Qin was thought to be descended from the Gods. This dragon has a single horn carved on its head, an indication that it is a very old representation of a dragon in China, as in the past 1,500 years the dragon is usually depicted as having two horns on its head. Translation: I have provided the following literal translation of the ancient “ jiaguwen” characters as it helps to describe the significance of this ancient jade Falcon. B oth sides of the Dragon's body are carved with the ancient Chinese character for Heaven—the characters look like bent staples (see 4x close-up photos # 2 & 6), but they are actually the Chinese Ku-wen or jiaguwen characters for Heaven. Condition Considering the size of this powerful Jade Dragon, it can be presumed that it was not just a common decoration article, but a worship article closely related to the primitive rituals or religious worship. Look carefully at the carving on the Dragon's small wings, which was all done with hand tools that used jade dust as an abrasive--no iron tools used as they were not invented yet. It would take an ancient skill... read more

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