Jade. China, Late Shang dynasty, 13th - 11th century BC 玉蟬 - 商代晚期, 公元前13世紀-前11世紀 This tiny cicada presents an interesting combination of three-dimensional facial features and incised lines that define the details of the body. The head is carved with two bulging eyes, a central hole, where the rest of the face would be, and another hole drilled obliquely on the underside of the head. Two parallel grooves separate the head from the body, which is decorated with a curved groove on each side, indicating the curve of the wings, followed by another five incised lines that describe the tail area. The highly polished cicada is rounded on top and flat on the bottom. The lovely translucent light green jade is dotted with a few black spots within and along some of the carved lines, indicating the presence of iron. Only the face has turned opaque and amber/brown in colour, due to other inclusions in the stone. Cicadas are common decorations on certain types of late Shang period ritual bronzes, but are rarely carved in jade, as the present example. A matching cicada but carved in turquoise was found in 1989 in the late Shang period site at Dayangzhou, Xingan, Jiangxi province: Yang Boda (ed.), Zhongguo yuqi quanji: 2, Chunqiu Zhanguo 中国玉器全集/2/商, 西周 (Chinese Jades: 2, Shang and Western Zhou), Hebei 1993, no.143. Provenance: From an old Austrian collection LENGTH 4.5 CM - WIDTH 1.5 CM 長4.5 厘米 -寬 1.5.厘米 Expertise: Univ. Prof. Filippo Salviati All jades in this catalogue have been professionally examined, authenticated and dated by Univ. Prof. Filippo Salviati. Professor Salviati teaches Chinese and Korean art at Sapienza University in Rome, in the Italian Institute of Oriental Studies. He is a world expert on archaic Chinese jades, having released multiple publications and being cited by renowned auction houses such as Sotheby’s.