Featured Jade paperweight - antique or not

This jade paperweight joined my miscellaneous oddments today by virtue of an online auction. It is 3 3/4 inch long and 2 1/2 wide and 1 1/4 high. It was carved from one piece of grayish-greenish jade with some brown spots. What may not be obvious from the photos is that it is highly polished. I believe the subject is a coiled dragon. The entire surface is carved including the flat bottom. My question for you, my friends, is it an antique? It was advertised as such in the auction and it had a tag - Rosenstein Antiques.

 

No one can give an age from a photo or how it was carved.There is something odd in the bottom photo around the 2 holes on the left and something just left of the holes.

 

Holly. Thanks for the insights. I was thinking that jade carving had periods or style and subject matter. I once went to a Chinese Jade exhibit at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana California and that seemed to be the case on the large scale. The odd bit is some left over glue from the scotch tape. I cleaned it.

 

Whether it is old or newer, it seems to be nicely carved.

I do not see a dragon.
I see a squid or octopus.

Tenacles?

 

Now that's interesting. I hadn't noticed those. I was thinking endless coils.

 

It's a dragon,the head is under the turtles,not sure what the tentacles belong to....... looked it up, it's a Jiaolong dragon.

 

There's a turtle?
And a dragon?
Are you two celebrating New Years a little early?

 

Jiaolong dragon. I'll have to look that up! Thanks.

 

I did the same.
I think it is Panlong the coiling dragon. Both Jialong and Panlong are water dragons.

 

I still can't see a dragon.
Can you point out its head?

 

The cats were helping. Sorry it took a while

 

The "turtle" is on top of the nose and right eye,toward the left of the turtles head is a "fin" on top of the dragon's head.Also a beard under the dragon's chin.

 

Panlong. More new stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Good for the kitties. They need entertainment.

Okay. Took a while, but I think I see what you are talking about.

Not sure that is a turtle



Have to say there is a lot going on in this piece.
Not sure a newer piece of carved jade would have so much work involved.

 

That's the problem with photos,it could have easily been carved with a CNC machine.Without having it in hand no one can see the how holes were drilled,are there tooling marks visible and if it is very well polished it sounds more like diamond polishing and wasn't common until the 1980's.

Example of the detail a machine can make. https://www.china-cncrouterlaser.co...e-stone-carving-router-machine-pd6317385.html

 

If my lot helped, it would take days !

 

For me it's the same way, actual carvings are a lot more complicated than ancient ones which take a lot of knowledge only to choose the symbolism of the stone after carving.
In my opinion, looking partially at the details on that picture at left it's a nice paperweight made in second part of the 20th century and after, you can search signs of wear on the under part, it's the unique thing you can't really copy when controlled with a good magnifier(we can write hundreds of pages about that question especially on glass…).

 

It is gorgeous, Kiko. Just to be sure, have you tested the hardness with a gem tester?

I agree. The antique ones often have a smooth feel, and some signs of wear.

 

Holly. Thanks for this information. I will look for tool marks. The high grade of polish seemed strange to me too. I have seen a lot of carved jade, albeit in a museum setting and this seemed unusually silky that's why I pointed it out. Kiko