Lot Essay
This small but rare oblong piece of nephrite is distinguished by pairs of 'tusks' and framing cusps along the jade's lower edge. This rounded, rectangular shape refers to the type of Hongshan jade that is characterized usually by a central image with two eyes softly encircled by undulating rings and flanked by a symmetrical pair of upper and lower thick, framing cusp shapes, as exhibited in the Sackler piece, lot 89, and the exquisite 'toothed pendant', from the Therese and Erwin Harris Collection now in the Freer Gallery of Art. See E. Childs-Johnson, "Jades of the Hongshan Culture: The Dragon and Fertility Cult Worship", Arts Asiatique, XLVI, December, 1991, p. 85, fig. 4, as well as Jenny F. So, "A Hongshan Jade Pendant in the Freer Gallery of Art", Orientations, May, 1993, pp. 87-92
The 'tusk' pairs are distinctively Hongshan in being delineated by softly undulating, rounded grooves and ridges that extend the length of the tusk. For a comparison, however rough, and in stone, from Nasitai, Inner Mongolia, see the drawing illustrated in fig. 13:6, p. 516 in Kaogu, 1987:6. This is a rare type like its more complex version, lot 89, and is typically Hongshan in style of working jade. The modeled corners and points, plus polished surface, create an unctuous expression that is sculpturally strong and abstract
The 'tusk' pairs are distinctively Hongshan in being delineated by softly undulating, rounded grooves and ridges that extend the length of the tusk. For a comparison, however rough, and in stone, from Nasitai, Inner Mongolia, see the drawing illustrated in fig. 13:6, p. 516 in Kaogu, 1987:6. This is a rare type like its more complex version, lot 89, and is typically Hongshan in style of working jade. The modeled corners and points, plus polished surface, create an unctuous expression that is sculpturally strong and abstract