A FINE AND RARE TUBULAR JADE ORNAMENT

Description:

China, Neolithic period, Hongshan culture, ca. 3800-2700 B.C.
H. 14,2 cm
Of green, mottled and translucent jade with ochre-coloured calcifications, with two opposite drill holes at the base.
From the Zeileis collection, assembled in the 1980s and 90s.
The function of these ornaments made of jade was often discussed in the past and used to be seen as an ornament to be worn on the head, through which a plait of hair was passed. Another possible function was assumed to be that of a grain meter. However, as this cannot be considered certain either, these objects are usually not described in terms of their function but only in terms of their form.
The piece presented here is probably one of the most impressive examples of this type of jade carving from the Hongshan culture. In form as well as in condition and quality of workmanship, it stands out from similar comparative pieces.
Cf. one of light green jade in the Avery Brundage Collection, in the Asian Art Museum San Francisco, object no. B60J226 and two smaller examples in: Neolithic Jades in the Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1992, nos. 125 and 126).
Cf. also some examples at past auctions: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 10 July 2020, lot 136; Sotheby's Paris, 15 December 2016, lot 23 (ex coll. Max Loehr); Christie's Hong Kong, 30 November 2016, lot 3209.
Publiziert in: Friedrich Georg Zeileis, 'Ausgewählte Chinesische Jade aus sieben Jahrtausenden', Gallspach, 1994, no. 7, pp. 10-11 - Very small old chips to the base