LATE NEOLITHIC/SHANG DYNASTY

Details

AN ARCHAIC RUSSET AND BROWN JADE NOTCHED DISC, XUANJI
LATE NEOLITHIC/SHANG DYNASTY
The deep russet stone with walnut and paler patches of calcification to the surface, the rounded sides carved to the interior with a plain circle and squared edges, the exterior rim carved as three arcs, each rising to a point and carved with six raised teeth, the surface incised with a pair of lines, possibly recarved in areas, breaks
7.3/8 in. (18.6cm.) diam., wood box

Provenance

Wu Dacheng, by repute
Berthold Laufer

Literature

Laufer, 'Jade, A Study in Chinese Archaeology and Religion', fig.36. Possibly Wu Dacheng, Gu Yu Tu Kao, 1889 edition, where a line drawing of a disc of exactly the same form with paralled incised lines is illustrated and euphemistically referred to as 'White' jade.

Exhibited

Dayton, Ohio, The Dayton Art Institute, Stones of Virtue, Chinese Jades from the Gerald Godfrey Collection, January, 1989, no.17, pl.6
Palm Springs Desert Museum, 1990, Catalogue, no.53
San Antonio Museum of Art, 1986
Pasadena, California, Pacific Asia Museum, Chinese Jade, The Image from Within, 1986

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.

Lot Essay

Compare another xuanji of similar form in the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington D. C., illustrated in Asian Art in the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, The Inaugural Gift, p.87 no.45. An example in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, is illustrated in their Bulletin, no.2, 1973/74, no.22. Another fine example from the British Museum is illustrated by Rawson, ibid., p.163, no.8:1, beside another piece excavated from Shandong Teng Xian Lizhuang, p.162, fig.5. A xuanji from the collection of Professor Max Loehr was included in the University of Michigan Museum of Art, exhibition of Early Chinese Jades, Catalogue, 1953, no.13, and is illustrated on the cover of the catalogue; it was also included in J.J. Lally and Co. exhibition Catalogue, 1993, fig.24. The Museum of East Asian Art, Bath, England, also has another example, illustrated in Jades from China, p.150, no.61.

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