Entwined snake pendant

13th - 15th century

The entwined serpent motif first made its appearance in the Warring Sates period (481-256 B.C.) and was readapted as an ancient-style design in the Song and early Ming periods. In the intervening millennia the iconography of the original snakes were given heads like those of chi dragons.

Nephrite

2 1/4 x 2 1/4 x 1/2 in. (5.72 x 5.72 x 1.27 cm)

Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection

33.1322

Provenance: [Kwong Yuen, New York]; purchased by the Fuller family, Seattle, Washington, prior to 1933; to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 1933

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistoryNew York, New York, Asia House, "Chinese Jades From Han to Ch'ing", October 1980 - July 1981, Detroit Institute of Art, Detriot, Michigan, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, Honolulu Academy of Art, Honolulu, Hawaii, (10/1980 - 7/1981)

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Chinese Art: A Seattle Perspective, Dec. 22, 2007 - July 26, 2009.

Published ReferencesYiu, Josh. A Fuller View of China: Chinese Art in the Seattle Art Museum, in association with A Fuller View of China, Japan, and Korea. Seattle, Washington: Seattle Art Museum, in association with University of Washington Press, 2014; p. 28, reproduced fig. 7.

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