Mantis

This semi-translucent green jade has brown and beige mottles and suffusions. The simplified mantis has a body with two flat faces, and the narrow back edge has a slightly raised central rib. Grooves outline the facial features, the neck, legs, and the tail. There is an indentation under the front leg.

Among excavated jades, mantis are not seen before the late Shang period. The published jade mantis from the Fuhao tomb demonstrates a columnar body with a waisted neck and a round head resting on disproportionally large, winding legs. 1 Coincident with other good contemporary jade work, double-outlines and shallow-relief are used on the piece. Notably grooves are carved beneath the legs, between which two perforations are designed for hanging or tying. Another extant piece at the Beijing Palace Museum, dated to the Shang, although its simple artistic style is close to that of the AAM piece, is executed in the same design with grooves and a hole under the legs as the Fuhao piece. 2 A rare specimen among Shang jade, this mantis bears special interest because of its simplicity.

1. Zhongguo yuqi quanji (Collection of Chinese Jade), Hebei meishu chubanshe 1993 vol. II: pl. 99.
2. ibid 1: pl. 188.