A small jade cong, Possibly Neolithic period/Shang dynasty | 或新石器時代/商 玉琮

Created in compact size and austere form, this finely polished jade cong attracts attention through the warm yellow tone of its stone. Originating from the Liangzhu culture (c. 3300-2300 BC) in the Yangtze River Delta, the production of jade cong spread also to other Neolithic cultures and continued into the Bronze Age. While Liangzhu jade cong are often ornamented with masks of various levels of complexity, those found in other civilisations or made later tend to be undecorated, or to display only minimalistic design. Jessica Rawson, in Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, p.154, states that small and undecorated cong, such as the present piece, appear to have been preferred in the Shang dynasty (c. 1600-1046 BC) and that small cong with narrow collars like seen here have been found at the sites in Baode, Shanxi province and Sufutun, Shandong province.

 

Cong, typically with a square outer section around a circular one inside, remain among the most enigmatic objects from ancient China. Excavated in various forms and sizes from archaeological sites, they might have served important ritual or ceremonial purposes among the most prestigious ranks of these early societies, who possessed enough wealth and power to command their production. For centuries, jade cong have fascinated collectors, connoisseurs, scholars and artisans. The Qianlong emperor (r. 1736-95), for example, is known to have collected jade cong and had them inscribed with his own poems.