† A RARE PALE CELADON JADE 'EAGLE' HAIR ORNAMENT, JI, LATE NEOLITHIC PERIOD, SHIJIAHE CULTURE

拍品描述

† A RARE PALE CELADON JADE 'EAGLE' HAIR ORNAMENT, JI, LATE NEOLITHIC PERIOD, SHIJIAHE CULTURE Expert authentication: Dr. Gu Fang has examined the present lot and confirms its authenticity and the dating above, noting the style of cutting, workmanship, thickness and quality of stone with decomposed areas indicating burial all suggest a dating to ca. 2500 – 2000 BCE. He assessed it as a piece of notably good quality. A copy of Dr. Gu's signed expertise, dated 17 April 2023, accompanies this lot. Dr. Gu Fang (born 1962) is an internationally renowned scholar of Chinese art and a leading authority on jades. He graduated from the Department of Archaeology at the prestigious Beijing University in 1986 and later studied at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), where he now serves as a Senior Fellow specializing in archaeological excavations and Chinese jade research. A former visiting scholar at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, he has authored several books on Chinese jades, including the 15-volume The Complete Collection of Jades Unearthed in China (2007), one of the most comprehensive studies of its kind, as well as Chinese Jade: The Spiritual and Cultural Significance of Jade in China (2012). China, 2500-2000 BC. Finely carved as a highly stylized eagle shown upright in profile, with a rounded head, short, hooked beak, and elongated folded wings closely following the contours of the body. The lower section is encircled by a series of pronounced horizontal ribs and tapers into a long, smoothly rounded conical terminal. A small circular aperture is drilled transversely through the ribbed section for suspension or attachment. The smoothly polished stone is of a pale celadon tone with cloudy milky-white inclusions and subtle pale russet shadings. Dimensions: Length 10 cm Literature comparison: A very similar late Shijiahe culture jade 'eagle' hair ornament is illustrated in Art in Quest of Heaven and Truth. Chinese Jades Through the Ages, Taipei, 2012, pl. 4-5-11, where the author attributes this type of jade hairpin to the Yi community from Northeast China around the Shandong peninsula who moved “to the middle reaches of the Yangzi River, taking eagle worship to their new home. They loved to fix their hair using a jade pin with an eagle pattern in order to be blessed by the eagle god” (p. 57). See also an example in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, accession no. 2009.87; and another Shijiahe culture jade 'eagle' hairpin discovered in the tomb of Fu Hao and illustrated in King Wu Ding and Lady Hao: Art and Culture of the Late Shang Dynasty, Taipei, 2012, cat. no. III-3. Auction result comparison: Type: Closely related Auction: Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 9 October 2022, lot 3602 Price: HKD 441,000 or approx. EUR 52,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing Expert remark: Compare the related form, color of the stone, and carving style. Note the slightly smaller size (8.2 cm). 13% VAT will be added to the hammer price additional to the buyer's premium - only for buyers within the EU. 13% VAT will be added to the hammer price additional to the buyer's premium - only for buyers within the EU.

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