A CARVED CYLINDRICAL JADE BEAD, LIANGZHU CULTURE China, circa 3300-2200 BC. The tubular bead is carved in form of a cylinder with two finely incised masks, each with slightly raised features, including round eyes incised within ovals joined by a wide bridge above a short bar-shaped mouth, a channel drilled from both ends. The opaque stone is covered extensively with white alteration, lustrous and ivory-white in color, with ochre suffusions.

Provenance: From a private estate in New York City, USA.
Condition: Good condition with ancient wear, one small chip on the top and at the bottom edge possibly smoothened, small nicks here and there. The stone with calcifications, weathering, and natural fissures, some of which have developed into small hairline cracks over time. Fine, naturally grown patina.

Weight: 22.4 g
Dimensions: Length 3.2 cm

Many beads of all sizes have been found in Liangzhu tombs, and a large number of them are decorated with faces, often arranged on two tiers.

Literature comparison: Two closely related beads in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, are illustrated in Neolithic Jades in the Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1992, pls 26, 27. Two in the Simon Kwan collection were included in the exhibition Chinese Archaic Jades from the Kwan Collection, Art Gallery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1994, cat. no 47. A pair is in the British Museum, London, illustrated in Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, pl. 5:11. Also compare a related Liangzhu cong-form jade bead, dated to 3300-2250 BC, at J. J. Lally & Co., New York, in Ancient Chinese Jade, March 2018, No. 45.

Auction result comparison: Compare a related Liangzhu cylindrical-form jade bead, at Sotheby’s Hong Kong in Jade: The Zhirouzhai Collection on 7 October 2008, lot 2377, sold for HKD 68,750.

良渚文化獸面紋玉珠
中國，公元前約3300-2200 年。管狀珠子成圓柱形，獸面紋，圓形大眼睛，嘴部浮雕。不透明的玉料覆蓋著白色的鈣化，有光澤和象牙白色，並帶有赭色。

來源：美國紐約私人收藏。
品相：狀況良好，磨損，頂部和底部邊緣有一個小刻痕，多處小刻痕。 鈣化、風化和天然裂縫的玉料，隨著時間的推移，其中一些已經發展成細小的裂縫。包漿自然細膩。

重量：22.4 克
尺寸：長3.2 厘米

拍賣結果比較：比較一件相近的良渚文化圓柱形玉珠，見香港蘇富比Jade: The Zhirouzhai Collection 2008年10月7日 lot 2377, 售價HKD 68,750。