A jade staff finial, Neolithic period | 新石器時代 玉仗首
Auction Closed
October 9, 07:30 AM GMT
Estimate
20,000 - 30,000 HKD
Lot Details
Description
A jade staff finial,
Neolithic period
新石器時代 玉仗首
the finial with a shaft of oval section, marked with two raised ridges and surmounted by a semicircular head
13.3 cm
Pin Chen Tang, Hong Kong, 18th May 1988.
品珍堂，香港，1988年5月18日
British Museum, London, on loan, 1995.
大英博物館，倫敦，借展，1995年
Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, pl. 10:28.
羅森，《Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing》，倫敦，1995年，圖版10:28
A similar crescent-topped stone staff finial, albeit damaged, was recovered from an archaeological site in Wuyang Jiahu, Henan, dated to c. 6500-5500 BC. Carefully finished and unearthed together with ritual objects such as bone musical flutes, the Henan finial is believed to be of an emblematic function (Jenny F. So, Early Chinese Jades in the Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 2019, p. 82, fig. 1). Compare two related finials, both ranked as the oldest stone artefacts in their collections: one in the Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, accession no. 1943.50.635, illustrated ibid., pl. 4; and another in the Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, accession no. F18919.52.