Beschreibung:

Lot details Please note this Lot is to be sold at No Reserve. 本拍品不設底價 China, circa 3300-2200 BC. The tubular beads are carved in a cylindrical form, tapered and rounded on the top and flat at the bottom, with two boldly incised masks, each with raised features, including teardrop-shaped eyes joined by a wide bridge above a bar-shaped mouth and a broad channel drilled from both ends. The opaque stone is covered entirely with calcified alteration, lustrous and ivory-white in color. (2) Provenance: Collection of Harry Geoffrey Beasley and thence by descent to his widow Irene Beasley. Collection of Alfred William Cowperthwaite, 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, with expected ancient wear, minuscule chips, some smoothened over time. The stone with calcifications, weathering and natural fissures, some of which have developed into small hairline cracks over time. Weight: 4 g each Dimensions: 1.7 cm and 1.6 cm Please click here to read the full description During the Neolithic period, especially within Hongshan, Liangzhu, and Longshan cultures, a large number of jade ornaments were buried with the elite. Beads like the one in this lot were worn along with headgear, knee decorations, elaborate necklaces, and other body ornaments all made primarily from jade. Dr. Elizabeth Childs-Johnson dubs these cultures a part of the ‘Jade Age,’ a period during which an abundance of jade objects accompanied the elite burials for the first time. The imagery on these adornments was highly standardized, and the most prominent image, which appears on this lot, is that of the godhead (also called a spirit person, shenren, or an anthropomorphized deity). Literature comparison: Compare a related jade bead from the Liangzhu culture, 2.6 cm high, dated to the Neolithic period, in the British Museum, registration number 2022,3034.64. Auction result comparison: Type: Related Auction: Bonhams New York, 21 March 2022, lot 237 Price: USD 62,812 or approx. EUR 62,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing Description: A Liangzhu jade bead ornament with carved masks, Neolithic period Expert remark: Note the similar style of carving and the calcified jade. Note the size (2.8 cm). 点此阅读中文翻译 (Chinese Translation) 良渚文化一對神人獸面玉珠 中國，西元前約3300-2200年。管狀珠子成圓柱形，頂部呈錐形和圓形，底部平坦，神人首面紋，在條形嘴上方有一個寬橋連接在一起，從兩端鑽出一條寬闊的孔。不透明的玉石完全被鈣化，表面有光澤，呈象牙白色。 (2) 來源：Harry Geoffrey Beasley (1881-1939)收藏，他逝世後由其遺孀Irene Beasley保存；Alfred William Cowperthwaite (1890-1964)，約於1939年購於上述收藏，之後在同一家