A Chinese jade bi disc, of circular form with a central aperture drilled from one side with a tapering edge. The variegated, translucent jade is primarily white in colour with russet speckles and pale grey shadings.
Chinese early Bronze Age, Qijia culture: Circa 2200-1600 BC.
Condition: Very fine condition, commensurate with age; complete and intact.
Diameter: 11.9 cms (4.7 ins).
Weight: 136 g
Provenance: Viennese private collection, acquired from Galerie Zacke in the early 2000s.
Published: Filippo Salviati, 4000 years of Chinese Archaic Jades, Edition Zacke, 2017, p. 99, fig. 116.
According to Filippo Salviati, jade disks from central and north-western China are drilled from only one side. Once the perforation was finished, the core was snapped off, leaving a tiny, rough ridge, which is visible in the present lot. Salviati observes in his analysis of the present lot that the disk is 'carved from a purer quality of translucent whitish jade that was probably obtained from deposits in Xinjian province.'
Literature comparison: Compare a related celadon jade bi disk similarly carved from only one side, 16 cm in diameter, dated to the late Neolithic period, in the British Museum, accession number 1909,0506.7.
Auction result comparison: Auction comparison: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 8 April 2023, lot 3802. Price: HKD 101,600 or approx. EUR 12,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing. Description: A greyish-celadon jade disk, Huan, Neolithic period. Compare the related form and colour of jade with similar shading. Note the similar size (11.8 cm).