† A VERY FINE MOTTLED GREEN JADE SIX-TIERED CONG, NEOLITHIC PERIOD, LIANGZHU CULTURE

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† A VERY FINE MOTTLED GREEN JADE SIX-TIERED CONG, NEOLITHIC PERIOD, LIANGZHU CULTURE Expert authentication: Dr. Gu Fang has examined the present lot and confirms its authenticity and the dating above, noting the style of cutting, workmanship, thickness, and quality of stone with decomposed areas indicating burial, all suggest a dating to ca. 3200-2300 BC. He assessed it as a piece of notably good quality. A copy of Dr. Gu's signed expertise, dated 13 March 2024, accompanies this lot. Dr. Gu Fang (born 1962) is an internationally renowned scholar of Chinese art and a leading authority on jades. He graduated from the Department of Archaeology at the prestigious Beijing University in 1986 and later studied at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), where he now serves as a Senior Fellow specializing in archaeological excavations and Chinese jade research. A former visiting scholar at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, he has authored several books on Chinese jades, including the 15-volume The Complete Collection of Jades Unearthed in China (2007), one of the most comprehensive studies of its kind, as well as Chinese Jade: The Spiritual and Cultural Significance of Jade in China (2012). Southeastern China, c. 3200-2300 BC. Magnificently carved, the thick walls with gently rounded sides enclosing a skillfully hollowed cylindrical interior, the exterior divided into six tiers, each corner decorated with alternating abstract human and animal masks, the former distinguished by the larger eyes above the raised oblong nose shared by both, the latter crowned by two parallel raised bands incised to evoke a feathered crest. The faces are separated by a gently recessed vertical band running down the center of each side. The finely polished, opaque stone is of a deep, dark green tone with paler shadings, russet-brown mottling, and areas of ivory-white calcification. Dimensions: Height 19 cm The Liangzhu culture and its remarkable jade artifacts came to prominence in the late 1980s, when the discovery of several significant cemeteries brought international attention to the richness of their tomb contents. Since then, a wave of new archaeological findings has dramatically transformed our understanding of this late Neolithic civilization. At the Mojiaoshan site, Chinese archaeologists have uncovered the remains of a vast, walled settlement covering 750 acres. This site, the largest known walled settlement from late Neolithic China, includes palatial foundations, jade workshops, habitation zones, and a sophisticated network of internal waterways. The jades of the Liangzhu culture abound in number, diversity, and excel in craftsmanship as some of the most illustrious jade artefacts in the history of Chinese civilization. Among the many types of jades of the Liangzhu culture, the jade cong are the most distinctive. Liangzhu jade cong have a square outer section and a circular inner hollow. Each corner serves as a vertical axis over which a symmetrical mask motif is carved. The cong are the only type of Liangzhu jades with decoration. The early cong were mainly squat, featuring exquisitely carved deity or animal details within the masks, while the later ones were mostly tall with simplified facial features dominated by the eyes and nose. Literature comparison: Compare a closely related five-tiered jade cong carved from a similar stone, dated c. 3300-2250 BC, 17.6 cm high, in the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, accession number F1917.63. Auction result comparison: Type: Closely related Auction: Christie’s Hong Kong, 2 May 2025, lot 1003 Price: HKD 3,024,000 or approx. EUR 346,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing Expert remark: Compare the closely related form, manner of carving, stone, and size (18 cm). Auction result comparison: Type: Closely related Auction: Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 9 October 2020, lot 52 Price: HKD 3,780,000 or approx. EUR 459,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing Expert remark: Compare the closely related form, manner of carving, and stone. Note the size (15.9 cm). Auction result comparison: Type: Closely related Auction: Zacke, Vienna, 11 September 2025, lot 218 Price: EUR 104,000 Expert remark: Compare the closely related form, manner of carving, and alternating mask motifs. Note the related size (17.3 cm). 13% VAT will be added to the hammer price additional to the buyer's premium - only for buyers within the EU.

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