登录
China, c. 4500-3000 BC. Of tubular form, with a central aperture drilled from both sides and the upper rim slanted back at a steep angle. The interior of one side subtly detailed with linear ridges and grooves. Pierced with a small aperture to either side of the lower rim. The translucent stone, roughly textured, of varying hues of pale celadon with light gray shading, dark mottling, and icy white inclusions.
Provenance: Daniel Milano, Paris, France, 2003. Collection of Paolo Bertuzzi, acquired from the above. A copy of the original invoice from D Milano, dated 23 August 2003, addressed to Paolo Bertuzzi, and stating a purchase price for the present lot of EUR 2,100 or approx. EUR 3,500 (adjusted for inflation at the time of writing), accompanies this lot. Paolo Bertuzzi (1943-2022) was a fashion stylist from Bologna, Italy. He was the son of Enrichetta Bertuzzi, founder of Hettabretz, a noted Italian fashion company with customers such as the Rothschild family, Audrey Hepburn, and Elizabeth Taylor. Paolo Bertuzzi later took over his mother’s business and designed exclusive pieces, some of which were exhibited in the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, USA. He was also an avid collector of antiques for more than sixty years. His collection includes both archaic and contemporary art, and he edited two important books about Asian art, Goa Made - An Archaeological Discovery, about a large-scale archaeological project carried out with the Italian and Indonesian governments, and Majapahit, Masterpieces from a Forgotten Kingdom.
Condition: Good condition, commensurate with age, with ancient wear, natural age-related imperfections, and traces of weathering and erosion. Evidence of breakage to the slanted side, with old signs of restoration, few associated chips, and minor nibbling along the edges. Overall, the ornament still presenting notably well.
Weight: 334.5 g
Dimensions: Height 13.2 cm
Expert’s note: Excavated examples resembling the present lot are usually found behind the head of buried individuals, suggesting either a form of hair decoration or an implement to prevent the head of the deceased from touching the ground, as evidenced by a Hongshan-period tomb excavated at Niuheliang in Liaoning province. See Elizabeth Childs-Johnson, Jades of the Hongshan Culture: The Dragon and Fertility Cult Worship, Arts Asiatiques, no. 46, 1991, p. 82-95.
Also, Filippo Salviati notes: another unique Hongshan jade shape is represented by elegant, hollowed cylindrical tubes often describes as ‘hoof-shaped’ ornaments for the distinctive outline of their upper edge. In the tombs, these ornaments are often, though not always, found positioned near or below the skull, suggesting that they might have been used as hair-ornaments. While generally referred to as headpieces, Jenny F. So has recently suggested that they may have been worn on the forearm to protect the arm and wrist. She cites an example worn on the forearm of the occupant of Site III at Niuheliang, and another recovered from the Bronze Age burial site at Dadianzi, in present-day inner Mongolia. See Jenny F. So, Early Chinese Jades in the Harvard Art Museums, 2019, p. 74.
Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related slanted tubular jade ornament, Neolithic period, Hongshan culture, c. 3500-2000 BC, 13.1 cm high, illustrated in Jean-Paul Desroches (ed.) et al, Two Americans in Paris: A Quest for Asian Art, Paris, 2016, p. 30, no. 18.
Museum comparison:
Compare a closely related jade hair ornament, Neolithic period, Hongshan culture, 4700-2900 BC, 17 cm high, in the British Museum, registration number 2022,3034.45. Compare a closely related tubular jade hair ornament, Neolithic period, Hongshan culture, c. 3800-2700 BC, 15.8 cm high, in the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art, accession number S1987.842.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie’s New York, 21 March 2025, lot 1001
Price: USD 21,420 or approx. EUR 18,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A pale greenish-yellow jade hoof-shaped ornament, Neolithic period, Hongshan culture
Expert remark: Compare the closely related form and manner of carving. Note the similar size (12.4 cm).
Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 11 July 2020, lot 136
Price: HKD 937,500 or approx. EUR 113,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: An archaic yellow jade hoof-shaped ornament, Neolithic period, Hongshan culture
Expert remark: Compare the closely related form and manner of carving. Note the similar size (12.8 cm).
|
|
| Galerie Zacke | |
| 地址： | Sterngasse 13, 1010 Vienna, Austria |
| 电话： | 0043-1-5320452 |
| 邮编： | 1070 |
| 向卖家提问 | |
