China, Neolithic period, c. 4000-3000 BC. Worked in the form of a double-horned humanoid with the hands resting on the knees, the face detailed with slit eyes and protruding ears, the body with pierced sections between the arms and legs, as well as a horizontally carved suspension hole behind the head. The translucent stone of a yellow to celadon tone with areas of russet skin and few dark specks.

Provenance: From the private collection of Professor Filippo Salviati, Rome, Italy. A professor of archeology and art history at the Italian Institute of Oriental Studies at the Sapienza University of Rome, Prof. Salviati has researched and published extensively on Chinese archaic art.
Condition: Very good condition with minor wear, few minuscule nicks, the stone with natural fissures, some of which may have developed into small hairline cracks over time.

Weight: 41.0 g
Dimensions: Height 6.1 cm

The Hongshan culture, from which this jade pendant comes, remained unknown until the 1980s. Centered in northeastern China, it is known for large ceremonial structures built with rocks, graves lined with stone slabs, and distinctively shaped jades that were often the sole goods found in tombs. The present lot belongs to a distinct group of three-dimensional humanoid figures, a few of which have been recorded during the 20th century, all from ancient collections assembled well before systematic excavations made the culture more widely known and appreciated.

Literature comparison:
The present lot is stylistically related to the Hongshan humanoid figures discussed in Angus Forsyth, Five Chinese Jade Figures. A Study of the Development of Sculptural Form in Hongshan Neolithic Jade Working, Orientations, vol. 21, no. 5, May 1990, pp. 54-63. Forsyth illustrates three figures worked in the round. One was in the collection of Louis C.G. Clarke and has since 1960 been in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (accession number O.55-1961), another from the Severance A. Millikin collection has since 1953 been in the Cleveland Museum of Art (accession number 1953.628), and the third, from the collection of Ernest Erickson, has been at least since the 1960s in the Ostasiatiska Museum, Stockholm. An additional figure in the Palace Museum, Beijing, has been published together with the Fitzwilliam and Stockholm examples in James C.S. Lin, The Immortal Stone. Chinese Jades from the Neolithic Period to the Twentieth Century, Cambridge, 2009, pp. 15-16.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Sotheby's Paris, 10 June 2021, lot 77
Price: EUR 40,320 or approx. EUR 45,000 adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A very rare jade 'humanoid figure' pendant, Neolithic period, Hongshan culture
Expert remark: Compare the closely related pose, horns, and pierced sections. Note the smaller size (4.5 cm).

Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 4 June 2020, lot 373
Price: HKD 93,750 or approx. EUR 12,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A miniature yellow jade humanoid figure, probably Neolithic period, Hongshan culture
Expert remark: Compare the closely related color of the jade. Note the smaller size (4 cm).