Jade, China. Hongshan culture, ca. 3500-3000 BC

玉雕馬蹄形件。中國，紅山文化，約公元前3500－3000年。高 15.6 CM, 直徑下 8.4至9 厘米, 直徑上 11.5－13厘米。

A particularly large tube with powerfully vivid marbling in the jade and pronounced signs of age. These pipe-shaped pieces were probably meant to hold together the hair of noble ladies and perhaps men as well, or might also have been laid behind the head as a burial object. They have, however, also been found lying next to the body. In her book, Rawson writes that there was usually only one piece per grave and that it was positioned where the hair used to be. This “hoof-shaped form” is called matixing 楔巬⼊ and is very characteristic for this “hair ornament”. Further features include six stripe-like canals on the upper part inside the pipe which follow the somewhat conical form and curve slightly outwards. The two eyelets on the edge at the bottom probably allowed the tube to be held in place.

The unusual size of this tube is remarkable and quite impressive and its wearer must have had an exceptionally full head of hair. In addition, the play of the jade’s grain is strong and lively and offers an almost turbulent cloudiness and numerous inclusions and veins. The stone probably once had a black-green color, but has become whitish due to aging. The weathering has produced notches on the edges which, aside from one larger notch, are quite small. Most pieces of this kind which have been found thus far were discovered in Niuheliang, located in the northeast of China in the province Liaoning.

Comparable pieces can be found in many publications, such as, “Chinese Jades”, ed. Rosemary E. Scott, tables 6 and 7 (where it is noted, among other things, that “for a long time, the style of hairdress and the ornamentation of the hair was of great importance for a person’s status”); see also “Chinese Jade. Selected Articles …” in “Orientations”, Hong Kong; or “Jades from China”, Museum of East Asian Art, no. 27.

Notes by Prof. Salviati: This tubular ornament is carved from a mottled, bluish-greyish type of jade with extensive alterations in the form of white veins and patches that are evenly distributed over the strongly weathered surface. The back side is embellished with smooth, parallel grooves and two small, slightly slanting holes are drilled on the sides and at the bottom. The top edges of these finely crafted jades are thinner in comparison to the rest of the object, hence breakage may easily occur during burial: in fact, several similar excavated artefacts are chipped along the top edge, such as those recovered from various tombs of the Niuheliang site (Jianping county, Liaoning province) and reproduced in Zhang Shuwei 張樹偉 and Li Xiangdong 李向東 (eds.), Shikong chuanyue: Hongshan wenhua chutu yuqi jing pin zhan 時空穿越:红山文化玉器精品展 (Through time and space: Unearthed jade articles of the Hongshan Culture), Beijing 2012, pp.59-67. See also Yang Xiaoneng (ed.), The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology. Celebrated Discoveries from The People`s Republic of China, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1999, no.11

HEIGHT 15.6 CM, BOTTOM DIAMETER 8.4 – 9 CM, UPPER DIAMETER 11.5 – 13 CM

From a private German collection



Expertise: Wolfmar Zacken (description) & Fillipo Salviati (dating and expertise)