A rare brownish-olive jade ceremonial blade, yazhang, Northwest China, possibly Qijia culture, circa 2000-1700 BC. 10¾ in. (27.3 cm.) long. Sold for 25,000 USD at Christie's New York, 18 March 2009, lot 276. © Christie's Images Ltd 2009

A brownish-olive jade ceremonial blade, yazhang, possibly Northwest China, Qijia culture, circa 2000-1700 BC. Sold for 74,500 USD at Christie's New York, 13-14 September 2012, lot 1002. © Christie's Images Ltd 2012.

Lot 2. A very rare black and brown jade stem cup, Western Han Dynasty (202 BC-AD 9). 10.1cm (4in) high. Estimate £6,000 - 8,000 (€6,900 - 9,200). Sold for £31,250 (€35,257). Photo: Bonhams.

Of cylindrical form supported on a waisted circular foot, intricately carved to the exterior body with a dense ground of interlocking C-scrolls above lappets, all below a band of archaistic scrolls to the rim, the stone of a mottled tone thinning to pale green colour with creamy inclusions, box. (2).

Provenance: the Sze Yuan Tang collection, acquired in Hong Kong circa 1980s-1990s.

Note: Compare a related jade stem cup, Western Han dynasty, excavated from the tomb of the King of Nanyue in 1983, Xianggangshan, Guangzhou, similarly decorated with archaistic C-scrolls but raised on a bulbous foot, illustrated in Jades from the Tomb of the King of Nanyue, Hong Kong, 1991, pl.128.

A related yellowish-grey and black jade stem cup, Western Han dynasty, was sold in our Hong Kong Rooms, 5 April 2016, lot 38.