A gray stone axe (Yue), Neolithic period | 新石器時代 石鉞

An axe of similar form and size, attributed to eastern China, Liangzhu culture is in the British Museum, London, illustrated in Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, pl. 10:9, where the author notes that the hole, like the present example, has been drilled from one side and pecked at from the other leaving a rough, uneven surface. Compare also two further related examples from the Sam and Myrna Myers Collection, sold in these rooms, 18th March 2014, lots 117 and 118.