Lot 174. A white jade handle, Shang dynasty (c. 1500-1050 BC); 13.4 cm. Lot sold: 378,000 HKD (Estimate: 60,000 - 80,000 HKD). © Sotheby's 2022
the upper part of the handle rendered with a small grip, one side gently convex and the other side flat, each side divided into three segments by ribbed lines, each segment incised with leaf-like motifs resembling a stylized cicada, vertically perforated in the centre.
Provenance: R.H. Ellsworth Ltd, New York, 20th August 1986.
Literature: Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, pl. 13:1.
Exhibited: British Museum, London, on loan, 1995.
Note: An excavated jade handle of a similar shape from Erlitou, but detailed with masks interspersed with petal motifs, is included in Zhongguo chutu yuqi quanji / The Complete Collection of Jades Unearthed in China, vol. 5: Henan, Beijing, 2005, p. 9, together with a slightly later petal-decorated example discovered in the tomb of Fu Hao, p. 50, and two other Anyang inscribed handles of much simpler forms, pp. 81-82.
Sotheby's. HOTUNG The Personal Collection of the late Sir Joseph Hotung: Part 1, Hong Kong, 9 October 2022
