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Opinions sought on these two hardstone carved plaques, possibly white nephrite or chalcedony.

Size: about 5 and 8 cm.

Old? New? What does the carving represent?

Unusual to have a dragon with a split tail, they usually have a fish tail and scaly snake like body . Bifid tails are usually a feature of lizard like qilong. This makes the pieces suspicious.

L Keh,

Thanks for comments. Agree that split tail dragons are rare. As Cal's post suggests, they are possibly derived from vegetal forms.

That could be one of the water dragons, panlong the coiling dragon believed to live in lakes, or the yellow dragon huanglong that gave mythological Emperor Fu Shi writing principle.

These can be shown as very brief vegetal-appearing scrollings, auspicious for rain.

Good luck,
Cal

Robert,

Could you post close ups of the reverse side of these?

Jim

Good suggestions! In fact when I looked more closely at the smaller, rounder plaque, I saw the dragon's head pointed down with what appears to be a book in its mouth - giving writting! On the other, oblong plaque, the dragon's head is also pointed down - possibly giving rain!

I now realize that in my first post in this thread the pictures of both plaques are upside down.

This appears to be Nephrite (Jade). Could you show the other sides?
Ernest

Here is a picture of the reverse of the plaque. Hopefully you can see the nubs with small holes at the sides. You may also be able to see the carved out area tracing the body of the dragon, which I earlier referred to mistakenly as a "stylized floral form". Evidently whatever method was used to work the stone led to a carved out (convex) area on the back where the dragon body stands out in relief on the front of the piece.

Robert, I have "bad" news : The top is superbly cut. Up to now I have seen only inserts like yours which do not have any engraving on the back, and are without drill holes. I notice that the drill hole on the right is very rough. From my observations, these items are very modern, yet they are made from Nephrite. IMHO these are nice collectors items.
Ernest

Ernest and Jim,

Thanks. I will show the reverse when I get a chance to take the pics, but I can describe both plaques as being convex (i.e., hollowed out) on the reverse. Also visible on the reverse of both plaques are fine, little protuberances - for lack of a better word - with fine holes going through them, presumably for a thread for wearing about the neck. Finally, on the reverse of both plaques is carved some sort of stylized floral form or symbol, (hidden decoration?), which is difficult to see and likely impossible to photograph.

The plaques could be central decorative pieces on Chinese hats. I've often seen carved or cabochon Jade, coral and hard stone pieces much like this one. The reality is the hat does not last as long as its decorations.

This could very well be a recent manufactured piece as there is much demand for such pieces in costumes for Chinese opera or cinema.

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