A set of three agate rings and four agate dragon pendants, huang and xi, Eastern Zhou dynasty, Warring States period | 東周戰國 瑪瑙環璜衝牙組珮

Ku Ngar Antique Limited, Hong Kong, 27th January 1996.

古雅閣，香港，1996年1月27日

For the composition of each element in the original set, refer to a set of Warring Startes-period agate ornament included in the exhibition at The Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Sparkling Splendours. The Art of Ancient Chinese Carvings on Rock Crystal and Agate. The Taoshi Zhai Collection, Hong Kong, 2000, cat. no. 76. According to The Rites of Zhou, the set of ornament should include a heng pendant, two huang pendants, tooth-shaped chongya pendants, and beads to fill the spaces in between the pendants. Thus, the bead elements are absent in the present set. The form of the tooth-shaped chongya pendant is similar to the shape of the xi pendant. See a pair of agate chongya pendants excavated from the tomb of Zhaoqin in the Jin village, Taiyuan, however, recorded and published as chalcedony xi pendants in Yang Boda ed., Zhongguo yuqi quanji [Complete collection of Chinese jades], Shijiazhuang, 2005, vol. 3, pl. 44.

此套衝牙、環、璜皆瑪瑙質，方棱，璜一對左右龍首，中間一穿，環一大二小成對，衝牙亦龍首，中間有穿，拋光鏡面剔透。

本套組珮屬「大珮」或「雜珮」之主要部件，如何組成套飾品可參考香港中文大學文物館曾展出一套戰國水晶瑪瑙之例，見《絢麗晶瑩：淘石齋所藏中國古代水晶瑪瑙器》，香港，2000年，編號76。《周禮》記載《詩傳》曰：「佩玉，上有蔥衡，下有雙璜、衝牙，蠙珠以納其間。」可知本套組珮惟珠散佚。衝牙顧名思義為衝撞牙形佩飾，故頭部多有撞痕，雙衝牙相撞故有佩玉琳瑯之聲，其形與觽常混淆。參考太原金村趙卿墓出土一對玉髓觽， 實為瑪瑙衝牙，見楊伯達編，《中國玉器全集》，石家莊，2005年，卷3，編號44。