Beschreibung:

Northwest China, late Neolithic period, c. 2000 BC. The thinly carved blade of gently waisted outline tapering from the two slightly projecting flanges (lan) towards the extremely thin curved end. The tang drilled with a hole. Provenance: A.W. Bahr Collection, Weybridge, 1963. Arthur M. Sackler, acquired from the above. Christie’s London, 3 November 2009, lot 159 (part lot, together with another blackish-green zhang blade). Austrian private collection, acquired from the above. Two old inventory numbers, ‘J1147’ and ‘J809’. Arthur Mitchell Sackler (1913-1987) was one of America’s foremost art collectors, who amassed the largest Chinese art collection in the world. His name lives on in many art-related projects: the Sackler Wing that houses the Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery at Princeton University, and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum at Harvard University. At the Smithsonian Institute, the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery is a museum for Asian and Near Eastern Art. In China, the Arthur M. Sackler Museum of Art and Archaeology teaches museology to students in Beijing. Published: 4000 Years of Chinese Archaic Jades, Prof. Filippo Salviati, 2017, page 121, no. 139. Condition: Excellent condition with minor wear. Two minute hairlines to the edge of the blade, where the stone is at its thinnest, few old losses to edges. Weight: 73.9 g Dimensions: Length 30 cm, Width 7 cm, Thickness 1.5-1.6 mm The stone is mostly translucent, though in many areas only when light is shone through from a short distance, turning red in those areas and greenish-yellow at the thinnest parts. The mineral is of a blackish-green color with a brownish tint and a creamy streak, which is entirely opaque, to both sides near the tang. The dark color is probably due to a very high presence of iron within the raw jade, which was specially selected to craft this specific type of blade and not used for other categories of jade artifacts. Ceremonial blades such as the present lot are rare. For an ancient drawing of such a blade, see Wu Dacheng, Gu Yu Tu Kao (Investigations into Ancient Jades with Illustrations), 1889, Shanghai, fig. 1. Literature comparison: Compare a closely related ceremonial blade in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 30.120.124. Compare also a slightly larger blade, also attributed to the Neolithic period, in the National Museum of China, Beijing, illustrated in National Museum of China, ed., Zhongguo Guojia Bowuguan guancang wenwu yanjiu congshu, Yuqijuan [Studies on the collections of the National Museum of China. Jade], Shanghai, 2007, pl. 25. For a full discussion of this type of blade, see Rawson, Chinese Jade, pp. 188-191. Related examples excavated at Shenmu Shimao are illustrated in Yang Boda, Jade Zhang in the Collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, pp. 53-60. Auction result comparison: Compare a closely related zhang blade, also dated to the late Neolithic and formerly in the collection of Arthur M. Sackler, but of slightly larger size (38 cm long), at Sotheby’s Hong Kong in Monochrome on 11 July 2020, lot 121, sold for HKD 4,735,000, and another, dated Neolithic period to Shang dynasty, of similar length and closely related dark green tone, at Sotheby’s London in Important Chinese Art, 6 November 2019, lot 210, sold for GBP 106,250. 大型墨青色玉牙璋，前Sackler收藏 中國西北地區，新石器時代後期，公元前約2000年。器身上端有刃，刃內凹如月牙形，下端呈長方形，底部兩側有突出的鉏牙，並鑽孔。牙璋是一種禮器。 來源：英格蘭韋佈里奇A.W. Bahr 收藏，1963。Arthur M. Sackler購於上述收藏，倫敦佳士得2009年11月 3日 lot 159 (與另一件墨青玉牙璋一起)。奧地利私人收藏，購於上述拍賣。兩個收藏編號 ‘J1147’ 與 ‘J809’，紐約Arthur M. Sackler收藏。Arthur Mitchell Sackler (1913-1987) 曾是美國最重要的藝術收藏家之一，擁有世界上最大的中國藝術收藏。他的名字曾出現在眾多與藝術相關的項目中：美國大都會藝術博物館Dendur神廟所在的Sackler展館、普林斯頓大學的Arthur Mitchell Sackler展館和哈佛大學的Arthur Mitchell Sackler博物館。 在史密森學會，Arthur Mitchell Sackler展館是亞洲和近東藝術博物館。 在中國北京，學生們在Arthur Mitchell Sackler藝術與考古博物館學習博物館學。 出版：《中國古玉4000年》，Prof. Filippo Salviati, 2017, 第121頁，圖139。 品相：狀況極好，有輕微磨損。 刀刃邊緣有兩處細裂紋，那裡是玉璋最薄的地方，邊緣幾乎沒有缺損。 重量：73.9 克 尺寸：長30