Page 206 - Nov 2019 Hong Kong SOtheby's Chinese Art

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PROPERTY FROM THE PEONY COLLECTION 新石器時代山東龍山文化
AN IMPORTANT AGATE ‘DEMON MASK’ 瑪瑙雕神人面紋飾
FITTING
NEOLITHIC PERIOD, SHANDONG LONGSHAN 展覽：
CULTURE Angus Forsyth 及 Brian McElney，《Jades from China》
，東亞藝術博物館，巴斯，1994年，編號65
the front side carved in varying levels of relief with strongly
defined facial features, portrayed with slanting elliptical eyes 出版：
with rounded pupils flanking a high-bridged nose with curled Roger Keverne 編，《Jade》，倫敦，1991年，頁67，
back nostrils, an open mouth revealing fangs and clenching 圖29
teeth, the reverse side incised with an intricate design of
demonic mask and drilled with a groove at the upper part, 此面紋玉件殊為罕有，琢工精湛，五官鮮明，突
the fitting pierced through vertically with an aperture, of
translucent tawny agate 目圓鼻，齒牙威嚴。傳出自山東龍山文化，Angus
3.9 cm, 1½ in. Forsyth 及 Brian McElney 對此撰論，見展覽圖錄
《Jades from China》，前述出處，頁154，論述
EXHIBITED 中，此件背面所刻獸紋與一玉斧紋飾作比，玉斧
Angus Forsyth and Brian McElney, Jades from China, The 乃 Grenville L. Winthrope 雅蓄，現貯劍橋哈佛藝術
Museum of East Asian Art, Bath, 1994, cat. no. 65. 博物館賽克勒美術館，錄於羅樾，《Ancient Chinese
Jades》，劍橋，1975年，圖版192。
LITERATURE
Roger Keverne (ed.), Jade, London, 1991, p. 67, fig. 29.
此獸面與傳湖北石家河文化之人面玉飾亦見相似，
HK$ 300,000-400,000 可比二例，天門肖家屋脊遺址出土，錄於古方，《
US$ 38,300-51,000 中國出土玉器全集》，北京，2005年，卷10，圖版
2、3，協同一例，天門羅家柏領遺址出土，圖版30
This unusual and rare mask is remarkable for its expertly 。另一例，陝西省長安縣張家坡西周墓出土，然亦
carved and finished features, from the pointed eyes to 傳石家河文化，載於羅森，《Mysteries of Ancient
the round nose, and the menacing fangs and teeth. Its China》，倫敦，1996年，圖版54。再有一例，Henry
attribution to the Longshan culture in Shandong is discussed J. Oppenheim 舊藏，現貯倫敦大英博物館，錄於
by Angus Forsyth and Brian McElney in the catalogue to Roger Keverne 編，《Jade》，前述出處，圖版47。
the exhibition Jades from China, op.cit., p. 154, where the 仍有一例傳石家河文化，年代稍晚，刊於《羣玉別
incised mask on the reverse of this piece is compared to the
incised design on a jade axe from the Grenville L. Winthrope 藏》，國立故宮博物院，台北，1995年，編號18。上
collection, now in the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard 海博物館且藏一例，定為龍山文化之物，載於《中
University Art Museums, Cambridge, illustrated in Max 國古代玉器館》，上海，2000年，頁11（下）。
Loehr, Ancient Chinese Jades, Cambridge, 1975, pl. 192.

This mask also share similarities with anthropomorphic jade
carvings attributed to the Shijiahe culture in Hubei province,
such as two masks unearthed at Xiaojiawuji, Tianmen,
illustrated in Gu Fang, The Complete Collection of Unearthed
Jades in China, Beijing, 2005, vol. 10, pls 2 and 3, together
with one excavated at Luojia Bailing, Tianmen, pl. 30; one
excavated from the Western Zhou tomb at Zhangjiapo,
Chang’an, Shaanxi province, but attributed to the Shijiahe
culture, illustrated in Jessica Rawson, Mysteries of Ancient
China, London, 1996, pl. 54; another from the collection of
Henry J. Oppenheim, now in the British Museum, London,
illustrated in Roger Keverne (ed.), Jade, op.cit., pl. 47; and
a further mask attributed to the latter years of the Shijiahe
culture, included in Collectors’ Exhibition of Archaic Chinese
Jades, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1995, cat. no. 18.
See also a mask attributed to the Longshan culture, in the
Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Shanghai Museum. Ancient
Chinese Jade Gallery, Shanghai, 2000, p. 11 (bottom)

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