1 / 11

Description

A JADE ‘SILKWORM’ PENDANT, LATE NEOLITHIC PERIOD TO SHANG DYNASTY A JADE ‘SILKWORM’ PENDANT, LATE NEOLITHIC PERIOD TO SHANG DYNASTY China, c. 1300 BC or earlier. The pendant pierced vertically and carved in the form of a silkworm, incised at one end with its head, detailed with large rounded eyes and slightly open mouth, the body with stylized ‘comma-scrolls’. The translucent stone is of a pale celadon tone with few dark inclusions and patches of opaque creamy-white calcification. Provenance: Collection of Harry Geoffrey Beasley (1881-1939) and thence by descent to his widow Irene Beasley. Collection of Alfred William Cowperthwaite (1890-1964), acquired from the above c. 1939 and thence by descent in the same family. Harry Geoffrey Beasley (1881-1939) was a British anthropologist and museum curator who developed an important ethnographic collection during the early 20th century that is now held in various British museums. With his wife Irene, Beasley set up the Cranmore Ethnographical Museum which eventually held more than 6,000 objects of ethnographical interest. The Beasleys collected objects from across Europe, buying from auction houses and local museums to expand the collection, which contained material from the Pacific, Asia, Africa, and Northwestern America. Beasley wrote numerous articles for anthropological journals and was considered an expert in his field. He died in 1939 and his collection was stored with the British Museum collections during the war, which was fortunate, as the Cranmore Museum was destroyed by bombing. After the war, substantial portions of the collection were passed to the British Museum, the Royal Museum in Edinburgh, the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, the University of Cambridge, the Pitt Rivers Museum, and the Merseyside County Museum. Other pieces, such as the present lot, were sold by his widow and, after her death in 1974, by their daughters. Alfred William Cowperthwaite (1890-1964) was a contributor to the Cranmore Museum and became good friends with Harry Beasley. Shortly after Harry Beasley’s death, he acquired a number of objects from Irene Beasley, including the present lot. Condition: Good condition, commensurate with age. Wear, minor nibbling, small chips, some of which have smoothened over time, signs of weathering and erosion. The stone with natural fissures, some of which have developed into small hairline cracks over time. Weight: 5.4 g Dimensions: Length 4.5 cm

1722 
Go to lot
<
>

A JADE ‘SILKWORM’ PENDANT, LATE NEOLITHIC PERIOD TO SHANG DY

Estimate 150 - 300 EUR
Starting price 150 EUR

* Not including buyer’s premium.
Please read the conditions of sale for more information.

Sale fees: 30 %
Leave bid
Register

For sale on Thursday 05 Sep : 11:00 (CEST)
vienna, Austria
Galerie Zacke
+4315320452
Browse the catalogue Sales terms Sale info

Delivery to
Change delivery address
Delivery is not mandatory.
You may use the carrier of your choice.
The indicated price does not include the price of the lot or the auction house's fees.

You may also like

A MOTTLED JADE YUE AXE, DAWENKOU CULTURE, C. 4500-2500 BC A MOTTLED JADE YUE AXE, DAWENKOU CULTURE, C. 4500-2500 BC Published: Filippo Salviati, 4000 Years of Chinese Archaic Jades, 2017, pp. 80-81, no. 87. Of elongated form with tapering side, the axe with a lens-shaped cross section, and a central aperture to the top which has been drilled from both sides. The translucent stone with inclusions of mustard, brown, and dark chocolate, as well as russet veins. Provenance: Private collection of Prof. C. Eberhard Klein, Germany. Condition: Excellent condition with minor wear and natural imperfections. Minor erosion and shallow surface wear. Weight: 277.2 g Dimensions: Height 17 cm The Dawenkou culture (c.4500-2500 BC) is one of the early societies that made use of jade during the late Neolithic period and transition to the Bronze Age, with sites mostly distributed in the Shandong province. The jades found in these sites are mostly derived from types developed by the two neighboring and major jade-using cultures, Hongshan in the north and Liangzhu in the south. Particularly favored were jade axes, which are more elongated than the Liangzhu ones, and often chisel shaped, like the present lot. Because jade was so costly, it is unlikely this was a utilitarian tool. Its use was probably more symbolic or ritual. The thin, sharp blade shows no sign of wear. The presence of such jade objects indicates a high level of skill in fine crafts. Due to its hardness, jade cannot be carved with metal blades but must be ground with abrasive sand in a slow, labor-intensive process. Literature comparison: Compare a closely related axe discovered at a Neolithic tomb at Dawenkou, published in Shanghai: Shanghai jiaoyu chubanshe, 1989, pg. 5 of illustrations.