Lot 2712. A celadon jade ‘cloud-scroll’ ornament, Hongshan Culture, circa 3500 BC; 7 1/4 in. (18.4 cm.) long. Estimate HKD 300,000 - HKD 500,000. Price realised HKD 1,000,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2019 

The jade is carved and pierced as a continuous cloud-scroll composed of three inter-connected modular units with subsidiary arched and toothed segments protruding from various joins and corners, with a small pierced aperture to the top. The stone is covered by white alteration, box.

Provenance: Yangdetang Collection, acquired in Taipei prior to 1999.

Literature: Jades of Hongshan Culture, 2007, Taipei, p. 191, no. 135.

Note: As one of the Neolithic cultures developed across northern China, Hongshan Culture is named after the archaeological site behind Hongshan (Red Hill) in Chifeng city, Inner Mongolia, discovered by the Japanese archaeologists Kosaku Hamada and Seiichi Mizuno in 1935. Initially termed ‘Chifeng Culture Phase 1’, it was later renamed Hongshan Culture in 1954. Findings include painted pottery, pottery with impressed zigzag or combed design, fine stone tools, as well as polished stone carvings. Hongshan Culture spans across southeast Inner Mongolia, west Liaoning and north Hebei. A small number of findings were also found in northwest Jilin. Excavated sites include Zhizhu Mountain in Chifeng, Xishuiquan, Sandaowanzi in Aohan Banner, Sileng Mountain, as well as Nanyangjiayingzi in Barin Left Banner etc. Hongshan Culture is dated to circa 3500 BC based on radiocarbon dating of its archaeological finds.