Early Chinese Art from the Eberhardt Collection

Early Chinese Art from the Eberhardt Collection

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 101. A pale celadon jade cong, Neolithic period, first half of the 2nd millennium BC  新石器時代公元前二千紀上半期 青白玉素面琮 .

A pale celadon jade cong, Neolithic period, first half of the 2nd millennium BC 新石器時代公元前二千紀上半期 青白玉素面琮

Auction Closed

November 30, 02:15 AM GMT

Estimate

600,000 - 800,000 HKD

Lot Details

Description

A pale celadon jade cong,

Neolithic period, first half of the 2nd millennium BC

新石器時代公元前二千紀上半期 青白玉素面琮 


h. 15.5 cm, inner d. 6.8 cm

Collection of Julius Eberhardt (1936-2012), Vienna, acquired in 1994.


朱利思.艾伯哈特(1936-2012年)收藏,維也納,1994年入藏

Regina Krahl, Sammlung Julius Eberhardt/Collection Julius Eberhardt, Hong Kong, n.d. (1999), cat. no. 33.


康蕊君,《Sammlung Julius Eberhardt/Collection Julius Eberhardt》,香港,未刊出版年份(1999年),編號33

Originating from the Liangzhu culture in the Yangtze River Delta, jade cong stand out as iconic of Neolithic Chinese civilisations. Exclusively made for the most prestigious ranks of society, jade cong were produced not only in Liangzhu, but also imitated or repurposed in other Neolithic cultures. While jade cong from the Liangzhu culture are often ornamented with masks of various levels of complexity, those found in other early civilisations tend to be undecorated, or at most with minimalistic design. Finely polished, the present tubular jade cong displays an attractive pale celadon tone. The angularity of the object is complemented by the central circular perforation, slightly protruding on both ends forming the ‘neck’ and ‘foot’.


See three related cong illustrated in Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, British Museum, London, 1995, cat. nos 7.1 and 7.2, from the collection of Sir Joseph Hotung, as well as p. 151, fig. 2, accession no. 1914,0513.6. Rawson suggests that cong of tall proportion, ‘with completely smooth, flat sides in place of subdivided section’ and ‘made of strongly coloured stones with a relatively glassy finish’, were made in western China in the late Neolithic or Shang period (pp. 150-153). Similar unornamented examples of relatively tall proportions have been excavated from the Qijia culture sites in Gansu; see The Complete Collection of Jades Unearthed in China, vol. 15: Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, Xinjiang, Beijing, 2005, pls 31, 37-38.


For centuries after the Neolithic period, jade cong continued to fascinate generations of collectors, connoisseurs, scholars and artisans. An undecorated Qijia culture jade cong, treasured and used as a flower vessel in the imperial Qing court, is now preserved in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, accession no. Gu yu 001033.


長江流域良渚文化,創製美玉,尤以琮、璧最為經典。玉琮,僅許貴族使用。早於新石器時代,琮式玉器已傳至周邊文化。良渚玉琮多琢刻獸面為飾,但其他早期文化之例則以素面為主,即使裝飾,也以簡約線條為主。此器琢磨細膩,色澤溫潤,外方而內圓, 兩端射口稍露,比例恰到好處。


參考何鴻卿爵士舊藏兩例,載於羅森,《Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing》,大英博物館,倫敦,1995年,編號7.1和7.2,同書另有一例,頁151,圖2,藏品編號1914,0513.6。筆者指這類比例較高、素面無紋之玉琮,其玉石色澤鮮明、打磨光滑者,乃屬新石器時代或商朝中國西部所製(頁150-153)。甘肅齊家文化遺址出土有相類之例,見《中國出土玉器全集》,卷15:甘肅、青海、寧夏、新疆,北京,2005年,圖版31、37-38。


新石器時代玉琮,往後數千春秋,仍有多少藏家、學者、藝匠慕其式、研其義、續其製,未隨早期文化衰落而淹沒消失。及至清朝,高古玉琮納入宮藏,如一齊家文化玉琮,素飾無紋,仍為天子所珍,配膽成瓶,現藏台北故宮,藏品編號:故玉001033。