Lot Essay
This remarkably distinct shape of jade has been labeled "horse hoof" or mati by Chinese archaeologists excavating Hongshan cultural sites in Liaoning and northern Hebei provinces. The shape is an open cylinder characterized, if turned upside down, as horse-hoof in outline, slanting obliquely as it hits the ground. The working of this jade tends to be thinner at the upper walls of the cylinder. Sometimes the flat, circular bottom and narrower end is perforated by a hole. One example of this jade type has been found lying under the head of a skeleton, thus the form has been described as a predecessor of the porcelain pillow, Wenwu, 1986:8, p. 13. Most likely the tube functioned as a hair ornament. Excavated Hongshan pieces come from Niuheliang and Sanguandianzi, see E. Childs-Johnson, "Jades of the Hongshan Culture: The Dragon and Fertility Cult Worship", Arts Asiatiques, vol. XLVI, December, 1991, figs. 6 and 7, p. 86; and Zhongguo meishu quanji: Yuqi, vol. 9, Beijing, 1992, pl. 1, p. 1
This shape is also represented in a number of public and private collections: the Buffalo Museum of Science, E. Childs-Johnson, Ritual and Power: Jades of Ancient China, China Institute in America, 1988, fig. 1, p. 16, and J. Hartman, Chinese Jades from the Buffalo Museum of Science, China Institute in America, New York, 1975, fig. 81, p. 58 (mislabeled); Grenville Winthrop Collection, Fogg Art Museum, Max Loehr, Ancient Chinese Jades, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1975, nos. 323-4; The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, E. Childs-Johnson, Ritual and Power: Jades of Ancient China, Ibid., fig. 2, p. 16; one included in the C. T. Loo exhibition, Chinese Archaic Jade, Norton Gallery of Art, West Palm Beach, Florida, January 20-March 1, 1950, Catalogue, pl. XXXVII:3; one from the collection of Mme. D. David Weill, Mostra d'Arte Cinese, Venice, 1954, Catalogue no. 185; one in the exhibition, Jades from China, The Museum of East Asian Art, Bath, England, 1994, Catalogue no. 27 (with two drilled perforations); and two in the Kwan Collection, Chinese Archaic Jades, Art Gallery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1994, Catalogue nos. 8 and 9
This shape is also represented in a number of public and private collections: the Buffalo Museum of Science, E. Childs-Johnson, Ritual and Power: Jades of Ancient China, China Institute in America, 1988, fig. 1, p. 16, and J. Hartman, Chinese Jades from the Buffalo Museum of Science, China Institute in America, New York, 1975, fig. 81, p. 58 (mislabeled); Grenville Winthrop Collection, Fogg Art Museum, Max Loehr, Ancient Chinese Jades, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1975, nos. 323-4; The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, E. Childs-Johnson, Ritual and Power: Jades of Ancient China, Ibid., fig. 2, p. 16; one included in the C. T. Loo exhibition, Chinese Archaic Jade, Norton Gallery of Art, West Palm Beach, Florida, January 20-March 1, 1950, Catalogue, pl. XXXVII:3; one from the collection of Mme. D. David Weill, Mostra d'Arte Cinese, Venice, 1954, Catalogue no. 185; one in the exhibition, Jades from China, The Museum of East Asian Art, Bath, England, 1994, Catalogue no. 27 (with two drilled perforations); and two in the Kwan Collection, Chinese Archaic Jades, Art Gallery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1994, Catalogue nos. 8 and 9