† A CROWN-SHAPED JADE ‘MASK’ ORNAMENT, LATE NEOLITHIC PERIOD, LIANGZHU CULTURE

拍品描述

† A CROWN-SHAPED JADE ‘MASK’ ORNAMENT, LATE 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 3200-2300 BC. He assessed it as a piece of notably good quality. A copy of Dr. Gu's expertise, dated 6 October 2012, 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). China, 3200-2300 BC. Of flat quadrangular form, decorated on one side in a shallow relief depicting a mask with large circular eyes set within elliptical ovals above an oval mouth, the reverse plain. The top of the plaque is carved with shallow rounded indentations and pierced for suspension at the center, while the sides taper towards a narrow flange pierced with three holes for mounting. The opaque stone with few semi-translucent, dark reddish-brown patches and a cloudy beige weathered surface. Dimensions: Length 9.9 cm Literature comparison: See a related Liangzhu culture jade crown-shaped ornament excavated from tomb no.22 at Fanshan site in Yuhang, Zhejiang Province, 4.22 cm tall, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Jades Unearthed in China, vol. 8, Beijing, 2010, p. 83. Compare a related jade crown-shaped ornament with deity pattern, dated late Neolithic period, in the Shanghai Museum. Compare a related jade comb ornament, dated late Neolithic period, in the Shanghai Museum. Auction result comparison: Type: Closely related Auction: Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 28 November 2019, lot 712 Price: HKD 625,000 or approx. EUR 77,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing Expert remark: Compare the similar form and incised-mask decoration. Note the size (5.8 cm). Auction result comparison: Type: Closely related Auction: Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 9 October 2022, lot 3607 Price: HKD 630,000 or approx. EUR 74,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing Expert remark: Compare the similar form, the color of the jade, and fine incision work. Note the size (5.4 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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