Page 98 - 2020 October 8 HK Fine Classical Paintings

42 Ceremonial blades carved from jade form an important object Large blades with similar perforation configuration, but often
category among jade-working Neolithic cultures. The present slightly thicker, were excavated from Qijia culture sites. A
A MASSIVE BLACK JADE CEREMONIAL BLADE 新石器時代晚期 玉刀 simple and plain blade with its carefully bevelled cutting edge larger green jade blade (l. 65.5 cm), a smaller example (l.
LATE NEOLITHIC PERIOD is carved from a dark olive-green jade. The edge is ground to 41.2 cm, 0.8 cm in thickness), and a fragment (l. 18.7 cm,
來源： a mere 0.1 cm while the thickest point of the blade measures 0.5 cm in thickness), all drilled with a row of larger holes and
impressively worked from a dark olive-green stone with natural only 0.3 cm. an additional smaller perforation that does not conform to
brown and white inclusions, the long blade skilfully rendered 1995年前得於日本 the linear arrangement, but centred on the blade at the butt,
with a crisp thinness, the straight upper horizontal edge joined Similar jade ceremonial blades with subtle differences in are published in The Complete Collection of Jades Unearthed
by the two slightly splayed short ends, the cutting edge very 展覽： characteristics have been discovered from various Neolithic in China, vol. 15: Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, Xinjiang, Beijing,
gently curved and marked with a subtle bevelled edge on each 《Ancient Chinese Jade》，藍理捷，紐約，2018年，編 period sites. See a Longshan example with a slightly curved 2005, pls 39 and 148, together with a related fragment, pl.
side, the blade drilled with three apertures along the upper 號23 cutting edge (l. 54.6 cm, 0.4 cm in thickness) published in 151. A slightly shorter olive green and brown jade blade (l.
edge with a smaller one toward one end and lower down The Complete Collection of Jades Unearthed in China, vol. 45 cm), together with a much shorter example (l. 28.9 cm),
56.7 cm, 22¼ in. 14:Shaanxi, op.cit., pl. 8; another (l. 51 cm, 0.3 in thickness) systematically drilled with three holes and a fourth one close to
in ibid., vol. 4: Shandong, pl. 24; and a blade attributed to the
PROVENANCE Shenmu culture in the collection of the Harvard Art Museums the short side, are illustrated in Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jade
from the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, pls 10.17-18.
Acquired in Japan prior to 1995. (l. 44.6 cm, 0.1-0.2 cm in thickness), included in Jenny F. So,
Early Chinese Jades in the Harvard Art Museums, New Haven,
2019, cat. 6B, together with another slightly thicker example
EXHIBITED attributed to the Qijia culture, cat. 6C.
Ancient Chinese Jade, J.J. Lally & Co., New York, 2018, cat. no.
23.
HK$ 1,000,000-1,500,000
US$ 129,000-194,000

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