DIA120mm, China

 Yu Bi is a form of jade that is used for ceremony, like the jade huang it is one of the 6 forms of jade that is used for ritual ceremony and later identification.  Yu Bi generally describes a piece of circular jade with a hole in the middle, as they sometimes come with pattern, this particular would be known as a Su (plain) Yu Bi, its being raised up in the center is known as a collar hence You Ling (collar) Su Yu Bi.   This form of Yu Bi was for the late Shang dynasty, like the iphone in the 20th century, it was an high tech object, a status symbol that became so popular that it can be found in various parts of China.

This is Emporer Qian Long’s favourite, he wrote several poems about it and asked for the poem to be engraved onto the jade.  The item is now part of the British Museum Collection.

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