Lot 103. Property of a London Collector. A rare and very large mottled green jade disc, Bi, Neolithic period, 3rd millennium B.C. Diameter : 45 cm. Price realised EUR 60,480 (Estimate EUR 60,000 – EUR 80,000). © Christie's Images Ltd 2025

Provenance: Sotheby’s London, Oriental Art comprising Chinese & Japanese Ceramics, Paintings & Works of Art, Chinese Jade Carvings & Snuff Bottles, 3 April 1996, lot 168.

Note: The present jade bi disc bears direct comparison to the magnificent mottled green and brown jade bi in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, accession number F1956.16. The Freer Gallery website dates their bi (46 cm diam.) to the late Neolithic period (ca. 2250- ca.1900 BCE), Qijia Culture, north-west China. It was acquired from Tonying and Company, New York and gifted to the museum by Charles Lang in 1956. The bi are very close in size, colour, striations and markings. Jenny F. So writes on the website that the Freer Gallery bi disc is: "The largest disk in the collection and amongst the largest known.... Inhomogenous but stratified texture unlike that often seen on Liangzhu disks. Uneven surface, with remains of curved slice mark on one face. Finished size is almost size of original boulder, with 'skin' spanning almost half the circumference.

Lot 102. Property of a London Collector. A mottled green and russet jade disc, Bi, Neolithic period, circa 6500-1700 B.C. Diameter : 14.4 cm. Price realised EUR 12,600 (Estimate EUR 12,000 – EUR 18,000). © Christie's Images Ltd 2025

Provenance: With Spink & Son, London.
R.H.R. Palmer Collection, no. 51, acquired from Spink & Son, London, March 1927 for £10.
Bonhams London, Fine Asian Art, 11 June 2003, lot 2.

Note: The present lot may be compared with the slightly larger (19 cm; diam.) mottled green and brown jade bi, Neolithic period, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 29 November 2017, lot 2712.