A RARE LARGE MOTTLED JADE BLADE

Details

A RARE LARGE MOTTLED JADE BLADE
NEOLITHIC, LIANGZHU CULTURE, CIRCA 2200 B.C.

Of trapezoidal outline, the thin blade softly beveled at each edge, but a bit thicker at one end above two apertures drilled from both sides, with three additional holes evenly space and drilled only from one side, the smoothly polished stone opaque and mottled in shades of gray, ochre, buff and black, the longest cutting edge chipped--17 3/4 in. (45cm.) long, cloth box

Lot Essay

Compare the equally large (47.8cm.) blade of similarly mottled stone in the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, illustrated in Asian Art, 1987, no. 36, where it is noted that a jade blade of the same size was "unearthed in a late Neolithic context at Rizhao, Liangcheng, Shandong Province", and another smaller (37.5cm.) in the Freer Gallery of Art, illustrated in Chinese Art in Overseas Collections, Jade, National Palace Museum, Taiwan, pl. 7