Lot 78. A small jade cong, Neolithic period; 6.3 cm, 2 ½ in. Estimate: 600,000 - 800,000 HKD. Unsold. Courtesy Sotheby's.

each corner worked with three registers of animal masks, the four corners divided by gently recessed vertical band in the centre of each side.

Note: Small jade cong of this form and size have been excavated from various Liangzhu culture sites, such as three discovered from tomb M20 at Fanshan, Yuhang, Zhejiang province, now in the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, see the exhibition catalogue Liangzhu and Ancient China. The 5000 Years of Civilization Demonstrated by Jades, Beijing, 2019, p. 152, M20:1-3. See another jade cong of slightly larger size with comparable carving technique excavated from tomb M21 demonstrating an asymmetrical pierced circular hole, illustrated in Liangzhu yizhi qun kaogu baogao. Fanshan [Reports of the Group Sites at Liangzhu. Fanshan], Beijing, 2003, no. M21:4.

Although the function of these jade cong from the Liangzhu Culture long remained a mystery, they are thought to have had a ceremonial and possibly also a protective purpose.

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