Lot 3422. A celadon jade ceremonial axe, qi, Shang dynasty (circa 1600-1046 BCE); 15.3 cm, 6 in. Estimate 100,000 — 200,000 HKD. Lot sold 625,000 HKD (USD). Courtesy Sotheby's.

of trapezoidal form, with a flat butt end flaring outwards to a bevelled curved cutting edge, each of the long sides similarly bevelled and outlined with projections formed with teeth flanked by a pair of notches, the butt pierced with an aperture, the stone of a yellowish olive-green colour with extensive milky-white areas accentuated with russet striations. 

Provenance: Hei-chi collection.
Roger Keverne, London, 2005.

Exhibited: Fine and Rare Chinese Works of Art and Ceramics: Winter Exhibition, Roger Keverne, London, 2004, cat. no. 87.

Literature: Robert P. Youngman, The Youngman Collection of Chinese Jades from Neolithic to Qing, Chicago, 2008, pl. 22.

Note: A closely related jade axe from the tomb of Fu Hao is illustrated in The Jades from Yinxu, Beijing, 1981, pl. 25, no. 459. Compare also jade axes illustrated in Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, pp. 176-8.

Sotheby's. The Robert Youngman Collection of Chinese Jade II, Hong Kong, 03 Apr 2019