16-joint Jade Chain of Dragon and Phoenix Patterns Details - 2

Escavated from the Zeng Hou Yi mausoleum

Many delicate jade adornments were unearthed from the Zeng Hou Yi mausoleum. This piece is a great example of the technique that is more advanced than the simple one-piece technique adopted in the Shang and the Zhou dynasty.

This chain is places next to the tomb owner’s skull. It was probably an adornment on his hat. The chain consists of 16 pieces. Among them there are five pair of jade rings. Each pair of rings were carved out of a piece of jade. The five pair were connected by three operable rings and one jade dowel. These milk green jade pieces connect with each other and form a jade dragon. On this dragon, there are carved patterns of in total 37 dragons, seven phoenixes and ten snakes. On the 14th joint and the 15 the joint, there are also carved scenes of a phoenix catching a snake.