WESTERN ZHOU/JIN DYNASTY, 10TH CENTURY BC-5TH CENTURY AD

Details

AN EARLY JADE BI AND CONG
WESTERN ZHOU/JIN DYNASTY, 10TH CENTURY BC-5TH CENTURY AD
The thick, flattened bi carved with rounded outer edges and a central hole drilled from either side leaving a step inside the aperture, the stone of deep grey-green tone with extensive opaque alteration of buff color; the cong carved from stone that has altered to an opaque mottled variegated grey tone with dark veining
6 3/8 in. (16.1 cm.) diam. and 2 15/16 in. (7.4 cm.) high, two boxes (2)

Provenance

Bi: acquired in the mid-1980s.
Cong: acquired in New York in the 1970s.

Lot Essay

A jade bi dated to the Wei-Jin period (220-420) with similarly rounded edges, but of smaller size (5 cm. diam.), was excavated in Foyemiaowan, Dunhuang, Gansu province. See Gu Fang, The Complete Collection of Jades Unearthed in China, vol. 15, Beijing, 2005, no. 115.

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