China, Shang Dynasty, ca. 1558 to 1046 BCE. This is a large jade (nephrite) object from early Chinese history. It has a three-dimensional trapezoid shape and a smooth hole drilled through its shortest side. It may have served as a weight or perhaps as a ceremonial axe head. Size: 5.8" L x 3.25" W x 1.5" H (14.7 cm x 8.3 cm x 3.8 cm).
Chinese art has incorporated jade since the Neolithic period; quarries for nephrite, the formal name for jade, have been found in modern-day southern Mongolia that date to ca. 4000 BCE. The stone was prized for its hardness, its beautiful coloration (with a milky white being the most desired), and its durability. By the third millennium BCE, we know that jade had also come to be associated with immortality. Jade was used to make everything from everyday household objects and decoration to the ceremonial suits in which Han dynasty emperors were buried – with the belief that jade would preserve the body and the soul for eternity.
Provenance: Ex Peter Arnovick Collection, Los Altos CA
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