Chinese Pendant, Two Incircle Pixiu Creatures, Hand Carved From Jade.

Chinese Pendant, Two Incircle Pixiu Creatures, Hand Carved From One Piece Of Jade.

Pixiu is a Chinese mythical hybrid creature, commonly referred to in the West by the Greek word "chimera", and considered a powerful protector of practitioners of Feng Shui. It resembles a strong, winged lion. Pixiu is an earth and sea variation, particularly an influential and auspicious creature for wealth

History of Jade

Jade mines in China have long been depleted, but the association and love for this stone endure with the Chinese. Jade is also found in Burma, Central America, Brazil, Canada, and India. Although prized by other civilizations as well as the Chinese, no other culture can rival China for the richness and intricacy of the jade rings, bracelets, beads, and pendants found there.

The Chinese have been working jade since the Neolithic period, to the present. Discs and tubes made of jade found in Neolithic Chinese graves are the earliest indications of this stone's association with the otherworldly. By 200 B.C., when the Book of Songs was written during the Zhou dynasty, the stone was established as an aid to immortality. It would continue to be used in burial rituals well into the Han Dynasty.

During the Shang Dynasty (1600 B.C. to 1050 B.C), jade was used for personal adornment by kings, as well as for utilitarian and ceremonial objects. Jade knives, daggers and objects imbued with royal meanings like sceptres and jade burial suits have been found in tombs most likely used for ritual or military ceremonies. A record from a 200 A.D Chinese dictionary defines jade as the fairest of stones, endowed with five virtues charity, rectitude, wisdom, courage and equity. Towards the end of the Tang Dynasty, however, funerary practices changed and by the time the modern Ming and Qing dynasties rolled around in the 16th century, the stone had become more referential and was primarily used as the material for objets d'art of the imperial court.

Item Code - JAD4B148HAE

Width: 2"  Height: 2"  Depth: 3/4"  Weight: 61 g