Lot 220. An exceptional and rare archaic green jade ceremonial blade (ge), Shang dynasty (circa 1600-1046 BCE). Length 12 1/8  in., 30.8 cm. Estimate 120,000 — 150,000 USD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

thinly carved with the elongated yuan extending to a gently tapered tip, with a beveled edge on one side, the end finely incised with a band of lozenge patterns between triple lines, the nei pierced with an aperture and carved at the end with five grooves forming the teeth, the softly polished stone of a pale green tone with a distinctive band of opaque white calcification.

Provenance: Collection of Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978).

Note: This jade ge is exceptional for the luminous translucent smoothness of the stone and sophisticated design. Moreover, the central stone inclusion, which has been expertly exploited, runs almost snake-like through the middle of the blade, contrasting strikingly with the rigid shape. As the level of workmanship involved in the creation of jade objects was an indication of its owner's importance, it is likely that the present ge belonged to a powerful person who was in the position to command such a important piece.

The significance of these ceremonial blades in Shang dynasty society is illustrated by the sheer quantity and quality discovered in the tomb of Fu Hao  (d. c.1200 BC), who was a consort of King Wu Ding (r.1324-1266 BC). Fu Hao's tomb near the Shang dynasty capital Anyang in Henan province provides a glimpse into the variety in size, detail, design and excellence in craftsmanship that existed in her time, see Yinxu Fu Hao mu/Tomb of Lady Hao at Yinxu in Anyang, Beijing, 1980, pls 107-113 and Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jade. From the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, pp 40-41.

A jade ge from Fu Hao's tomb displaying the same incised design of lozenges between triple lines as seen on the current piece is illustrated in Yinxu Fu Hao mu, op. cit., col. pl. 17, fig. 1 (bottom). Another example with this pattern and of similar shape and size is illustrated in S. Howard Hansford, The Seligman Collection of Oriental Art, vol. 1, London, 1957, no. B25, pl. LIX, where a nearly identical ge illustrated in Huang Chün, Yeh chung p'ien yü [Antiquities from Anyang], I, ii, 18, is mentioned. Compare also two jade ge, one from the J.T. Tai Collection sold in these rooms, 22nd March 2011, lot 61; the other from the Robert Youngman Collection, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 3rd April, 2019, lot 3401.

Lot 235. A rare stone fish-form pendant, Late Shang dynasty or later. Length 4 1/2  in., 11.7 cm. Estimate 4,000 — 6,000 USD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

the elongated form tapering toward the upper and lower edges, the fish incised with circular eyes, abstract curved gills, and short lines defining the scales and fins, its flat mouth pierced with a small aperture.

Provenance: Collection of Mrs. Christian R. Holmes (1871-1941), no. 9896. 
Collection of Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978).

Note: Fish-form pendants of this type made of stone are extremely rare, and no other examples appear to be published. The depiction of fish scales on the present lot is also a rare feature. Only a small group of pendants with the same feature appear to be recorded, including two jade examples excavated from the Fu Hao's tomb in Henan province, published in Institute of Archaeology, CASS, Tomb of Lady Hao at Yinxu in Anyang, Beijing, 1980, pl. CXLVI, fig. 2; one dated Western Zhou dynasty, excavated in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, published in Yang Boda, ed., Zhongguo yuqi quanji [Complete collection of Chinese jades], vol. 1, Shijiazhuang, 2005, no. 260; and another, modeled in a arched form, from the S.H. Minkenhof Collection, published in H.F.E. Visser, Asiatic Art in Private Collections of Holland and Belgium, New York, 1952, pl. 56. For related examples without the carved scales, see two jade pendants attributed to the Shang dynasty, in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, published in Ancient Chinese Arts in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1989, pl. 138; a Zhou dynasty example, from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Desmond Gure, exhibited in Mostra d'arte cinese [Exhibition of Chinese art], Venice, 1954, cat. no. 181; and a pair, from the collection of Frau E. Rosenheim, included in the exhibition Ausstellung Chinesischer Kunst [Exhibition of Chinese Art], Berlin, 1929, cat. no. 194.