Neolithic Hongshan Culture Chicken-Bone White Jade Cloud-Shaped Pendant, circa 4700–2900 BCE

拍品描述

Dimensions: Length 8 cm (3.15 in / 0.26 ft); Height 5.9 cm (2.32 in / 0.19 ft); Late Neolithic Period, 5th–3rd Millennium BCE，Weight: 39 grams (1.38 oz)，Condition & Provenance: The cloud-shaped jade pendant is preserved intact overall, with no apparent major fractures, losses, or restoration. The jade has developed an extensive chicken-bone white surface appearance accompanied by irregular gray-brown and earthy burial coloration distributed across the body. Fine fissures, weathered areas, and variations in surface texture contribute to its aged character. Fashioned as a flat openwork pendant, the composition centers on a strongly curved cloud-scroll design with projecting cusps arranged around the perimeter. Openings incorporated into the design provide points for suspension, and the interior walls display traces consistent with drilling and abrasive finishing. The edges and curved transitions have been extensively smoothed, giving the entire pendant a rounded, tactile profile. Provenance: Private Collection, Germany. Collected during the 1990s and retained overseas for more than thirty years.Description: This striking cloud-shaped pendant is carved from a single slab of jade and conceived as a compact openwork composition in which solid form and negative space are given nearly equal visual importance. The surface presents a predominantly chicken-bone white appearance, enlivened by irregular gray-brown and earthy-toned areas that create considerable depth and variation across the otherwise restrained design. The pendant is organized around a bold, inward-turning spiral. A smaller internal curl echoes the larger outer movement, while projecting cloud-like cusps extend outward around the perimeter. The result is a remarkably dynamic silhouette: despite its modest scale and flat construction, the ornament conveys continuous rotational movement when viewed from different angles. The openwork is especially important to the design. Rather than functioning merely as perforation, the carefully arranged voids visually separate the scrolling elements and allow the cloud motif to remain legible from both sides. Suspension openings are integrated into the composition, indicating that the object was conceived to be worn or attached rather than simply viewed as an independent sculpture. The surfaces and edges have been repeatedly abraded and polished, producing rounded transitions instead of sharp corners. This softened treatment complements the flowing geometry of the cloud-scroll motif and gives the object the tactile quality characteristic of early jade ornament. Cloud-shaped jade ornaments occupy a distinctive place within the visual vocabulary associated with Hongshan material culture. Their sweeping curves, openwork construction, and abstract geometry demonstrate an increasingly sophisticated approach to transforming hard stone into symbolic forms. Such ornaments have generally been discussed in connection with personal adornment and ceremonial display, while their archaeological contexts suggest that jade could also carry important social and ritual meaning. Particularly compelling is the contrast between the pendant's abstract design and the physical character of the stone. The pale chicken-bone white surface, darker areas of coloration, weathered texture, pierced openings, and smoothly polished edges combine to give the piece a strongly sculptural presence. At 8 cm in length, it is large enough for the complex silhouette to read clearly while remaining appropriately scaled as a suspended ornament. With its bold spiral composition, balanced openwork, rounded contours, and visually expressive surface, this cloud-shaped pendant represents the sophisticated abstract vocabulary for which prehistoric Chinese jade carving is admired and would form a distinctive study piece within a collection of Hongshan and early Chinese jade.

图片