Period:Neolithic Period Production date:4000BC-2000BC
Materials:jade
Technique:drilled
Dimensions:Diameter: 22 centimetres
Description:
Disc-bi of semi-translucent spinach green jade with inclusions, surface pitting and traces of earth encrustation.
IMG
Comments:Neolithic, north-west China c.2000BC-1000BC. The type of stone from which this disc is made and the method of working suggest that it comes from one of the western neolithic cultures that were using rings and discs, rather than from the Liangzhu area. In the first place the choice of a dark translucent stone is out of keeping with the stones available along the east coast. Further, the very irregular thickness of the disc and the sharp, conspicuous cutting line on one side are both unusual in Liangzhu pieces, in which any such false starts were in general worked smooth. The central hole is drilled from both sides. In all respects this much thinner disc is unlike the smooth and sturdy ones from the south-east. Instead it can be grouped with the quite widely dispersed jades, especially rings and discs, employed in western neolithic cultures in Shanxi and Shaanxi. Among published excavated pieces are discs from Shanxi Xiangfen Taosi, from Shanxi Shenmu Shimao and from Shaanxi Yan’an. While there seems to be a degree of evolution in the finish of this disc type, it may be the case that most of them ae of late neolithic and Shang date, and were made in the neolithic cultures of Shaanxi before the Zhou came to power. A number of the discs may have been treasured as antiquities and handed down through many generations. Jades of this type are not found in pre-dynastic Zhou tombs, and seem likely to pre-date this stage of development in Shaanxi. As related jades appear in Fu Hao’s tomb, many are likely to be contemporary with the Shang (although not made in the Shang area) or earlier. See Rawson 1995, p.156, cat.no.7.6. The irregular disc of uneven thickness has been chipped around the edges with a cutting ridge on one side. There is also a central biconical perforation. Neolithic. Diameter 220mm.Bluett’s invoice states: An archaic Chinese jade large perforated disc, bi, of slightly irregular shape, the central aperture drilled from both sides. the translucent stone predominantly light green in colour with numerous darker green inclusions, undecorated except for a shallow groove near the edge on one side. Liangzhu culture, from central eastern China., Neolithic, 3300-2250 BC
Materials:jade
Technique:drilled
Dimensions:Diameter: 22 centimetres
Description:
Disc-bi of semi-translucent spinach green jade with inclusions, surface pitting and traces of earth encrustation.
IMG
Comments:Neolithic, north-west China c.2000BC-1000BC. The type of stone from which this disc is made and the method of working suggest that it comes from one of the western neolithic cultures that were using rings and discs, rather than from the Liangzhu area. In the first place the choice of a dark translucent stone is out of keeping with the stones available along the east coast. Further, the very irregular thickness of the disc and the sharp, conspicuous cutting line on one side are both unusual in Liangzhu pieces, in which any such false starts were in general worked smooth. The central hole is drilled from both sides. In all respects this much thinner disc is unlike the smooth and sturdy ones from the south-east. Instead it can be grouped with the quite widely dispersed jades, especially rings and discs, employed in western neolithic cultures in Shanxi and Shaanxi. Among published excavated pieces are discs from Shanxi Xiangfen Taosi, from Shanxi Shenmu Shimao and from Shaanxi Yan’an. While there seems to be a degree of evolution in the finish of this disc type, it may be the case that most of them ae of late neolithic and Shang date, and were made in the neolithic cultures of Shaanxi before the Zhou came to power. A number of the discs may have been treasured as antiquities and handed down through many generations. Jades of this type are not found in pre-dynastic Zhou tombs, and seem likely to pre-date this stage of development in Shaanxi. As related jades appear in Fu Hao’s tomb, many are likely to be contemporary with the Shang (although not made in the Shang area) or earlier. See Rawson 1995, p.156, cat.no.7.6. The irregular disc of uneven thickness has been chipped around the edges with a cutting ridge on one side. There is also a central biconical perforation. Neolithic. Diameter 220mm.Bluett’s invoice states: An archaic Chinese jade large perforated disc, bi, of slightly irregular shape, the central aperture drilled from both sides. the translucent stone predominantly light green in colour with numerous darker green inclusions, undecorated except for a shallow groove near the edge on one side. Liangzhu culture, from central eastern China., Neolithic, 3300-2250 BC
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