Lot 62. A celadon jade 'animal mask' plaque, Eastern Zhou dynasty, Spring and Autumn period (770-475 BC); 3.7 cm, 1 ⅜ in. Estimate: 100,000 - 200,000 HKD. Lot sold 176,400 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

skilfully worked on one side with the upper trapezoidal section rendered with double-line scrollwork and pierced with three apertures, including a pair of reverse U-form, the lower section depicting the animal mask, the reverse with one bevelled section, the top and base of the plaque with two further apertures.

Property from the Hei-Chi Collection.

Literature: Jiang Tao and Liu Yunhui, Jades from the Hei-Chi Collection, Beijing, 2006, p. 71.

Note: A closely related plaque excavated from the tomb of Meng, the monarch of the State of Huang, Baoxiangsi, Henan, is published in The Complete Collection of Jades Unearthed in China, vol. 5: Henan, Beijing, 2005, pl. 184; and another single example, together with a string of 24 plaques incised with simplified animal masks, was excavated from Liujiadianzi, Yishu, Shandong, illustrated ibid., vol. 4: Shandong, pls 181-2..

Sotheby's. Monochrome II, 9 October 2020, Hong Kong