Lot 2004. A mottled greenish-grey and dark brown jade axe, Neolithic period or Shang dynasty, circa 2000-1600 BC; 2 1/8 in. (5.5 cm.) wide. Estimate USD 7,000 - USD 10,000. Price Realized USD 8,750. © Christie's Images Ltd 2014. 

The thick blade flares towards the softly beveled cutting edge, and has a biconical hafting hole, and a smaller conical hole drilled at the opposite butt end where the corners are rounded. The pale greenish-grey areas of the stone are semi-translucent while the dark brown areas are opaque, metal stand.

Provenance: China House of Arts, New York, 1987.

Exhibited: Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati Art Museum, Art on the Market: Selections of Antiquities and Oriental Art, 2 December 1987 - 3 January 1988.
Cincinnati, Ohio, The Taft Museum, Cincinnati Collects 5000 Years of Chinese Art, 28 February - 20 April 1997, no. 1.

Property from the Jacob and Mary Stein Collection.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, New York, 20 - 21 March 2014