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Have this (cong?) figure, vessel, has 3 characters on one side, @ 10"h x 2"w x 3"d, unknown material, passes scratch test.

origin or info??

thanxx

More than likely a modern fantasy piece that was created by having three oracle bone scripts carved on its surface and coated with artificial weathering to make it appear to be some types of Neolithic carvings such as that of the Hongshan period. I was surprised to hear that its material would pass scratch test because it looks like it was made of serpentine or Xi Yu. However, some serpentine can indeed pass the scratch test and only specific gravity test can confirm that they are indeed serpentine and not nephrite. Judging by its design, its size, its material and its carving quality, IMHO, the probability for it to be either Neolithic or archaic, is really close to nil. Of course, since I am not an expert I can indeed be wrong. In that case you may want to pay a professional jade expert to render a professional appraisal for you if you do believe it may be something valuable. Cheers.

Super

Though someone here doesn't believe it is real, I believe that it is Chinese and neolithic, looks like a typical good carved for the grave consisting of a ceremonial vessel that was never actually used. Hongshan figures are often depicted with things on their head, though I think she is probably a later era Hongshan leading into the Hetian stage and not as archaic as some (maybe 2000 BC instead of 4000). Not sure what is going on at her feet and why they appear so large, but if it is any kind of an insect-like creature, the chances that it is indeed Hongshan and real increase seven fold.

Part of the problem on here is that people are used to seeing only one type of rock and anything outside of this one type of rock is immediately dimissed as fake. But there was a vast amount of territory that these early people covered and numerous materials that they experimented with. It is like taking only 10% of the goods of any population and calling it real while overlooking 90% of it since it has writing on it earlier than we might expect.

I just saw over 50 REAL jade Hongshan turtle shells with very similar writing as this Woman-Holding-Jar, so please be very careful with her a bequeath her only to your favorite relative.

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