A rare yellowish-celadon jade 'animal mask' ornament, Neolithic period, Hongshan culture, 4th - 3rd millennium BC | 新石器時代 紅山文化 公元前四千至三千年 青黃玉獸面紋卷雲形飾

Jenny F. So and Janet G. Douglas, ‘Understanding and Identifying Jades from the Hongshan Culture’, East Asian Jade: Symbol of Excellence, vol. 1, Hong Kong, 1998, fig. 15.8.

Jenny F. So, ‘Jades from Niuheliang: Answers to an Archaeological Problem?’ Zurich Studies in the History of Art: Georges Bloch Annual, Zurich, 2009, figs 4d and 5.

蘇芳淑及 Janet G. Douglas，〈Understanding and Identifying Jades from the Hongshan Culture〉，《東亞玉器》，卷1，香港，1998年，圖15.8

蘇芳淑，〈Jades from Niuheliang: Answers to an Archaeological Problem? 〉，《Zurich Studies in the History of Art: Georges Bloch Annual》，蘇黎世，2009年，圖4d及5

The present lot represents the most prominent jade carving recovered from Hongshan burials at its representative site, Niuheliang, Liaoning province. According to the research by Professor Jenny So, less than thirty such 'principal' jade plaques are known from excavations and museum collections, each with variate design. Fifteen, including the present example, are scrolled ornaments, see Jenny F. So, 'Jades from Niuheliang', op.cit., pp. 79-101.

Compare two closely related jade scrolled 'animal mask' ornaments excavated from the Hongshan site at Niuheliang, illustrated in Niuheliang – Hongshan wenhua yizhi fajue baogao (1983-2003) [Niuheliang: Archaeological report of the Hongshan culture site], Beijing, 2012, vol. 1, nos 23-1 and 59, both with similar workmanship and closely related iconographic features resembling animal or bird faces, and a similarly fine, yellowish-green tone of the jade stone. See also a related green jade toothed 'animal mask' ornament, previously in the Yangdetang Collection, illustrated in Teng Shu-p'ing, Collectors' Exhibition of Archaic Chinese Jades, Taipei, 1995, pl. 1, and later sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 29th November 2017, lot 2704.

玉料呈黃綠色，片狀雕，局部有土紅色沁，四周有不規則的鉤雲出頭，中部開口，獸面圓眼，凸鼻，長喙似鳥，下方有兩小孔，器背面素面，兩邊各鑽連通兩孔。整器厚重，表面磨光細膩。

此獸面紋卷雲形飾為新石器時代紅山文化晚期最具代表性玉器之一，類似的玉器曾於牛河梁遺址出土，根據蘇芳淑教授統計研究，一共僅有三十件同級別玉器出土，其中僅有十五件為獸面紋卷雲形飾，見蘇芳淑，〈Jades from Niuheliang〉，前述出處，頁79-101。

遼寧省牛河梁遺址中有兩件出土的獸面紋卷雲形飾可資比較，見《牛河梁．紅山文化遺址發掘報告（1983-2003）》，北京，2012年，卷1，編號23-1及59，其玉質、雕刻及打磨工藝以及類鳥的卷雲紋設計均與本品極為相似。養德堂舊藏一件紅山文化期青玉帶齒獸面紋飾可比較，著錄於鄧淑蘋，《羣玉別藏》，台北，1995年，圖1，後售於香港佳士得，2017年11月29日，編號2704。