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A RARE AND PARTIALLY ALTERED MOTTLED DARK GREEN JADE DISK, BI, LATE SHANG TO WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY
奥地利
12月16日 晚上6点 开拍 /6天18小时
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Description

A RARE AND PARTIALLY ALTERED MOTTLED DARK GREEN JADE DISK, BI, LATE SHANG TO WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY

China, 11th-10th century BC. Of circular form with a central aperture drilled from one side. The translucent stone of varying hues of deep green with russet and black natural inclusions, gray mottling, and patches of opaque calcification.

Provenance: Daniel Milano, Paris, France, 2001. Collection of Paolo Bertuzzi, acquired from the above. A copy of the original invoice from D Milano, dated 28 June 2001, addressed to Paolo Bertuzzi, and stating a purchase price for the present lot of EUR 3,900 or approx. EUR 6,500 (adjusted for inflation at the time of writing), accompanies this lot. Paolo Bertuzzi (1943-2022) was a fashion stylist from Bologna, Italy. He was the son of Enrichetta Bertuzzi, founder of Hettabretz, a noted Italian fashion company with customers such as the Rothschild family, Audrey Hepburn, and Elizabeth Taylor. Paolo Bertuzzi later took over his mother’s business and designed exclusive pieces, some of which were exhibited in the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, USA. He was also an avid collector of antiques for more than sixty years. His collection includes both archaic and contemporary art, and he edited two important books about Asian art, Goa Made - An Archaeological Discovery, about a large-scale archaeological project carried out with the Italian and Indonesian governments, and Majapahit, Masterpieces from a Forgotten Kingdom.
Condition: Good condition, commensurate with age, with ancient wear, natural age-related imperfections, including small fissures and inclusions, and expected traces of weathering and erosion. Minuscule nibbles, which have smoothened over centuries, and a notable chip to the edges.

Weight: 399.9 g
Dimensions: Diameter 15.9 cm

Bi discs in general are a type of jade which continued to be crafted in numbers by cultures located in central and northwest China during the transitional period between the Neolithic and Bronze Age. The majority of these discs range in size between ten and twenty centimeters, and larger ones are rare. Their size and weight, requiring both hands to hold them, suggest that these imposing discs were displayed and used in a ritual context. The hole is usually drilled from one side only: on larger discs, it is smoothed down and the traces of the tool marks are almost invisible.

Jade discs such as the current example have been thought to symbolize a connection between heaven and earth. This hypothesis has been solidified by the large number of examples found in ancient tombs of Chinese elite dating from the Neolithic to the Han Dynasty, also underscoring their significance as objects deemed important enough to accompany one to the afterlife. The Chinese character for jade, (yu), is even a pictural representation of three such discs suspended on a cord, an image that is also found in the Chinese character for king, (wang), which further emphasizes the precious nature and cultural significance of such discs.

Jean M. Green discusses the theory that ‘the class of objects known as a discoidal spindle whorl and the bi are linked formally, historically, and contextually’. The spindle whorl allowed early humans to twist loose fibers into yarn or thread, a crucial invention for the development of civilization and trade. For an in-depth discussion of the relationship between these two artefacts, and to view a complete jade spindle whorl, dated to the early second period of the Liangzhu culture, see Jean M. Green, Unraveling the Enigma of the Bi: The Spindle Whorl as the Model of the Ritual Disk, Asian Perspectives, vol. 32, no. 1, 1993, p. 105-124 (p. 107, pl. III for the spindle whorl).

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Zacke Vienna, 18 October 2024, lot 430
Price: EUR 1,950
Description: A spinach green jade disc, bi, Neolithic period, 3rd millennium BC
Expert remark: Compare the closely related form, manner of carving, and color of the stone. Note the larger size (21.7 cm).

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拍品估价:500 - 1,000 欧元 起拍价格:500 欧元  买家佣金: 30.00%

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