Jade. China, neolithic Liangzhu culture, ca. 3300 - 2200 BC

This piece of a necklace has the form of a tall cong, of course, en miniature. The single sections are demarcated from one another with finely engraved lines running around the piece. The cord hole runs the length of the piece, has been drilled from both sides and narrows substantially towards the middle. The jade has a reddish color with white, age-related points of calcification.
LENGTH 7,85 CM
Condition: Very well preserved, see images online.
Provenance: From an Austrian collection.

Comparative literature/Archaeological sites: The beads are the smallest of all Liangzhu items in jade. Beads with a square cross-section shaped as miniature cong have come to light mostly from sites in Jiangsu province such as Caoxieshan, Wu county; Fuquanshan, Qingpu county, Shanghai; and Sidun, Wujin, Changzhou: see Zhejiang institute of cultural relics and archaeology, Liangzhu wenhua yuqi 良渚文化玉器 (Jades of the Liangzhu Culture), Wenwu chubanshe, Beijing 1990, Zhejiang 1990, nos.70 and 175-177, and Huang Xuanpei, Gems of the Liangzhu Culture from the Shanghai Museum, Hong Kong Museum of History, Hong Kong 1992, no.69.



All jades in this catalogue have been professionally examined, authenticated and dated by Univ. Prof. Fillipo Salviati. Professor Salviati teaches Chinese and Korean art at Sapienza University in Rome, in the Italian Institute of Oriental Studies. He is a world expert on archaic Chinese jades, having released multiple publications and being cited by renowned auction houses such as Sotheby’s.

Expertise: Wolfmar Zacken