Lot  9. A yellowish-celadon jade axe, Neolithic period, Northeast China; 22.8 cm, 9 in. Estimate: 200,000 - 300,000 HKD. Lot sold 226,800 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

of generous proportions, one side gently tapering to the rounded lower edge, the reverse comparatively flat, one edge with a tool mark, the smoothly polished yellowish-celadon stone with brown inclusions and patches.

Property from the Hei-Chi Collection.

Literature: Jiang Tao and Liu Yunhui, Jades from Hei-Chi Collection II, Beijing, 2012, p. 22 bottom.

Note: See two jade axes of comparable form and size excavated from Inner Mongolia, attributed to the Hongshan culture, published in The Complete Collection of Jades Unearthed in China, vol. 2: Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Beijing, 2005, pls 42-43; and another in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in Art in Quest of Heaven and Truth Chinese Jades through the Ages, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2011, pl. 4-3-1, together with a line drawing illustrating how this type of axes could have been used by holding the narrower end by hand.