A RARE MOTTLED GRAY JADE HUMANOID HEAD-FORM BEAD

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Details

A RARE MOTTLED GRAY JADE HUMANOID HEAD-FORM BEAD
LATE NEOLITHIC, LONGSHAN CULTURE/SHANG DYNASTY, CIRCA 2000-1600 B.C.

The head area of pentagonal section, carved with a humanoid face with fierce expression, the teeth bared and with a pair of fangs curving upwards from the lower jaw, the broad nose slightly faceted conforming to the facets of the helmet above, with horizontally grooved flanges projecting to the sides above similarly grooved ears with circular earrings or ear plugs, with a collar at the base of the neck, the back plain, vertically pierced, the grayish stone with extensive dark brown veining throughout--1 1/8 in. (2.9cm.) high

Lot Essay

For a discussion of the redating of this group of jades with humanoid masks to late Neolithic/early Shang, from early Western Zhou, see James Watt, Chinese Jades in the Seattle Art Museum, 1989, no. 3, p. 30

Compare a human mask pendant from the collection of Fu Zhongmo, illustrated in The Art of Jade Carving in Ancient China, 1990, col. pl. 3. Compare also two other examples, one in the British Museum, illustrated in Handbook to the Collections of Early Chinese Antiquities, pl. 310, the other illustrated by Rene-Yvon Lefebvre d'Argence, Chinese Jades in the Avery Brundage Collection, 1975, pl. X