A SMALL JADE CONG, LIANGZHU

A SMALL JADE CONG, LIANGZHU
Jade. China, Liangzhu culture, c. 3300-2200 BC
The cong is of square cross section with rounded square corners, with a single register with four masks carved on the corners. The pupils of the eyes are incised above a short bar in relief carved below designating the mouth and below two raised and incised bands. The opaque stone of an ivory-white tone with brown inclusions.
Compare also a cong-form jade bead from the Liangzhu culture, but of considerably larger size (3.8 cm high) at Christie's Hong Kong in The Chang Wei-Hwa Collection of Archaic Jades, Part I - Neolithic Period on 27 November 2019, lot 2723,
sold for HKD 525,000
.
HEIGHT 1.7 cm, WIDTH 3.2 cm
Provenance:
Private Collection of Irene and Wolfgang Zacke (1942-2022).