Page 14 - Sothebys HK Dragon Emperor April 2024

3603

PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN
A MOTTLED JADE CONG,
NEOLITHIC PERIOD, LIANGZHU CULTURE
23.8 cm
PROVENANCE
Ku Ngar Antique Ltd, Hong Kong, 19th September 2011.

HK$ 400,000-600,000
US$ 51,500-77,000

新石器時代良渚文化 玉琮

來源：
古雅閣，香港，2011年9月19日

The Liangzhu culture in the Yangtze River Delta, which
flourished from the late 4th to the end of the 3rd millennium
BC, was one of the most prominent Neolithic Chinese
civilizations. Among the large variety of Liangzhu artefacts,
cong – tubular jades usually of square section with a central
perforation drilled from both ends – stand out as iconic of
this culture. This tapering squared cylinder, perforated from
top to bottom, is divided into nine evenly distributed tiers,
each with its four corners decorated with stylised human-
3602 masks. Jade cong that are over twenty centimetres tall, such
as the present lot, are rare. They would have undoubtedly
been extremely costly to make and must have been as
PROPERTY FROM THE NUMINA COLLECTION 新石器時代良渚文化 玉鉞 remarkable in ancient times as they are today, worthy only of
A JADE CEREMONIAL AXE, individuals of the highest status in the community.
NEOLITHIC PERIOD, LIANGZHU CULTURE 來源：
香港私人收藏，1970至80年代集成
14.4 cm
PROVENANCE
A Hong Kong private collection, assembled during the 1970s
and 1980s.

HK$ 100,000-150,000
US$ 12,800-19,200

This jade axe is outstanding for its smoothly polished shiny 全器製作講究，無開料剩餘的切割痕跡，通體白化，
surface and its semi-translucent stone of a milky-white 有棕色紋路。在良渚文化玉器中，玉鉞數量甚稀。
colour. Jade axes, such as the present lot, distinguish 與琮璧等不同的是，玉鉞一般出自男性墓，故有學
themselves from other jade forms of the period due to their
rarity and exclusivity. Specifically reserved for only the most 者猜測玉鉞是軍事權力的象徵，玉鉞的稀有程度，
elite tombs, there is typically only one axe of this type found 由浙江省杭州市余杭區反山遺址M20大墓出土情況
in each of these tombs. For example, see a closely related 可見一斑。該墓出土數百件玉器，其中包括4件精
jade axe excavated at the Fanshan site in Yuhang District, 美的玉琮、43件玉璧以及24件石鉞，而玉鉞則只有
Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, where the tomb contains 一件，見《權力與信仰：良渚遺址群考古特展》，
hundreds of jade and stone wares including jade cong, bi
and stone axe but only one axe made from jade, see Quanli 北京，2015年，頁169-179。
yu xinyang: liangzhu yizhi kaogu tezhan [Power and belief:
A special exhibition of Liangzhu archaeological excavation
sites], Beijing, 2015, pp.169-179.
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