Page 192 - 2019 September 10th Sotheby's Important Chinese Art Junkunc Collection

258 A RARE ARCHAIC DARK GREEN JADE CEREMONIAL BLADE (DAO)
NEOLITHIC PERIOD
新石器時代 玉刀

thinly carved, of a nearly trapezoidal form with a long straight edge opposite a gently curved, beveled cutting edge, pierced
near the top with two apertures, the softly polished stone of a blackish olive-green color
Length 12½ in., 31.8 cm

$ 20,000-30,000

PROVENANCE 來源
Collection of Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978). 史蒂芬•瓊肯三世（1978年逝）收藏

Ceremonial blades carved from jade form an important object category among jade-working Neolithic cultures.
The present simple and plain blade with its carefully beveled cutting edge is carved from a very dark green, almost
black jade. It is closely related to a group of similar jade ceremonial blades discovered in Shenmu Shimao, Shaanxi
province in the 20th century, that have been dated to between the late Neolithic and Shang period. See, for instance,
two Hongshan Culture dark green jade blades discovered in Shimao, illustrated in Dai Yingxin, ‘Reconnaissances of a
Lungshan Site at Shih-mao in Shen-mu County, Shensi Province’, Kaogu, no. 3, Beijing, 1977, p. 156, figs 1 and 2.

Compare two larger blades in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, published in Harold Peterson,
Chinese Jades: Archaic and Modern from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, London, 1977, pls. 45-47; one in the Tianjin
City Art Museum, published in Yang Boda, ed., Zhongguo yuqi quanji [Complete collection of Chinese jades], vol.
1, Shijiazhuang, 2005, no. 53, where the author notes its similarities to the excavated examples from Shimao. For
auctioned examples, see a large dark green jade blade from the collection of Max Loehr, sold in our Paris rooms, 15th
December 2016, lot 43; and another, attributed to Shimao Culture, formerly in the Yang De Tang Collection, sold at
Christie’s Hong Kong, 28th November 2018, lot 2711.

玉刀在新石器時代為重要禮器品類之一。本玉刀簡樸淳 另可參考兩例，尺寸較大，現藏於明尼阿波利斯美術館，
雅，刀鋒雕琢細緻，原玉深綠近乎黑色，可比較一組玉刀 載於Harold Peterson，《Chinese Jades: Archaic and
例，二十世紀期間出土自陝西神木縣石峁，斷代新石器時 Modern from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts》，
代晚期至商代，比較兩例，出土於石峁，紅山文化，色墨 倫敦，1977年，圖版45-47；天津市藝術博物館亦收藏
綠近黑，圖載於戴應新，〈陝西神木縣石峁龍山文化遺址 一例，載於楊伯達編，《中國玉器全集（上）》，石家
調查〉，《考古》，期3，北京，1977年，頁156，圖1及2。 莊，2005年，圖版53。巴黎蘇富比曾售一例，出自Max
Loehr收藏，玉色深綠，售於2016年12月15日，編號43
；另一例售於香港佳士得，出自養德堂珍藏，斷至石峁文
化，售於2018年11月28日，編號 2711。

190 JUNKUNC: ARTS OF ANCIENT CHINA II