Page 36 - JJ Lally Ancient Chinese Jades, 1988

24. A N eolithic Mottled Green Jade Cong
Liangzhu Culture, circa 3300–2250 B.C.
of upright form with hollow cylindrical center and flat squared exterior, the sides very slightly
tapered toward the base and divided into five tiers of panels angled across the corners, the open
ends enclosed by short plain collars of rounded outline, the five projecting panels carved with
stylized masks across the corners, each mask comprised of twin bands of narrow parallel grooves
above small circular incised ‘eyes’ and a short raised bar with rounded ends for the ‘nose’, the
panels separated by deeper wide grooves cut across the angle to meet a plain vertical band down
the center of each side, the interior of the thick sides plain and polished, with a narrow rib near the
center showing the opening was drilled from both ends, the dark green jade with widely scattered
small black flecks and cloudy mottling throughout.
Height 6¼ inches (15.9 cm)

Ex J.J. Lally & Co., 1994 catalogue no. 19
A Liangzhu jade cong of similar form, with five tiers of corner-panels similarly carved with stylized masks, excavated from
tomb no. 1 at the Shedunmiao site, Haining, Zhejiang province and currently in the collection of the Haining Museum is
illustrated by Gu (ed.), Zhongguo chutu yuqi quanji (Complete Collection of Jades Unearthed in China), Vol. 8, Zhejiang,
Beijing, 2005, p. 32.
Another Liangzhu jade cong carved with five tiers of similarly stylized
masks, unearthed at Meijiali, Zhejiang province is illustrated in the
catalogue of the special exhibition at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum
of Art and Archaeology at Beijing University by Qin and Fang (eds.),
Quanli yu xinyang: Liangzhu yizhi qun kaogu tezhan (Power in Things:
New Perspectives on Liangzhu), Beijing, 2015, pp. 211-213, no. II-
2-1, with description on p. 385. Compare also the similarly carved
Liangzhu jade cong with six tiers of masks unearthed from Wujiafu,
Zhejiang province, now in the collection of the Yuhang Museum in
Hangzhou, also illustrated by Qin and Fang (eds.), op. cit., pp. 352-
353, III-2-12, with description on p. 431.

อͩኜࣛ˾cԄଃ͗∑c৷ 15.9᩶Ϸc
Ը๕cᔝଣઠ 1994त࢝ྡ፽ୋ 19໮

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