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Re: Re: Jade cong - Age? Quality?

Posted By: Tim
Posted Date: Nov 26, 2015 (09:52 PM)

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Just doing some more research....check this out....

Take a look at the Christie's cong sold in 2006...I posted the link in response to Scott Alexander's comments. Not a stellar performance by any means, and no guarantee that it is truly neolithic, but as you can see the color and type of stone seem to match mine, style of carving is identical, and even the rather 'crude' appearance of looking 'too old'/too soft a stone seems to match.

Still, not a great example to make a comparison since there is no provenance provided by Christie's on the piece they sold, but it does suggest that the appearance of my cong is not entirely unrealistic for a period piece, else Christie's would not have made such an assertion.

I might add that Christie's also makes a point to mention that the hole in the cong was drilled from both sides...just like mine. So, the construction of my cong seems correct.

Now, take a look at the link I've provided from Freer - Sackler. The cong depicted is a different carving and different color stone, but more importantly, zoom in to view the opening of the cong. Do you see it?

You can clearly see the same kind of lines on the inner hole where the core was cut out as on my vase. You can also see on the outer mouth of the cong where light is reflecting that it too has strong scratch marks.

Here is another example from Freer-Sackler of a larger sized cong with nearly identical stone: http://www.asia.si.edu/collections/edan/object.php?q=fsg_F1968.30

Here, again, is another larger cong at Freer-Sackler...zoom in and look at the exterior scratch marks from the carving...very much in sync with what is seen on my vase - http://www.asia.si.edu/collections/edan/object.php?q=fsg_S1987.887

It seems to me that these larger congs, those over 6" in height, have a bit more course workmanship, especially when they are rendered from this green/black stone.

Or, perhaps these congs were never fully carved or finished/polished....maybe the carver died unexpectedly or gave up on the project...who really knows?

That said, by no means am I dismissing your remarks...my cong may be a copy as I know nothing of its origins and have nearly no experience with jade. But, I am left wondering what other criteria can be used to determine age other than the tooling and type of stone, since genuine examples of Liangzhu carvings do exist with 'rough' carvings and similar green/black stone.

Link :Freer-Sackler cong

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