Jade. China, Late Neolithic period, Liangzhu culture, c. 3300-2200 BC 玉璧 - 新石器時代晚期, 良渚文化, 約公元前3300-2200年 This is another example of a beautiful Liangzhu culture bi 璧 disc with a striking marble-like effect created by the dense veins that cover the finely polished surfaces. The disc, carved from a thick slab of jade, is quite irregular in form and has two specific areas where the surface slopes markedly downwards near the outer edge. The unabraded central hole has been drilled obliquely from both sides, leaving visible tool marks and a very sharp central ridge with extensive rough nicks within; there are also some chips around the perimeter of the hole on one side. The jade has turned predominately two tones of red and is covered with many white lines and striations throughout, giving it a marble-like quality. The disc is also heavily mottled with brownish, blackish and greenish areas that are mostly located in the central part. As the previous Liangzhu culture disc, no.7, it is highly polished and smooth to the touch but shinier, with an almost glass-like quality. Discs that exhibit irregularities in shape are commonly found in Liangzhu culture sites: see for example those published in Zhejiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Liangzhu wenhua yuqi 良渚文化玉器 (Jades of the Liangzhu Culture), Beijing 1990, nos.73 and 84. Compare also a disc from the Yangdetang collection in similar reddish jade auctioned at Sotheby’s Hong Kong on 29 November 2017, sale 16069, lot 2712. Further comparable examples are represented by three discs in the Freer/Sackler Galleries of Art in Washington, D.C., accession numbers F1916.45, F1916.381 and F1918.22. Provenance: From an old Austrian collection DIAMETER 21.2 CM - HOLE 6.1 CM 直径 21.2 厘米 - 孔徑 6.1 厘米 Expertise: Univ. Prof. Filippo Salviati All jades in this catalogue have been professionally examined, authenticated and dated by Univ. Prof. Filippo Salviati. Professor Salviati teaches Chinese and Korean art at Sapienza University in Rome, in the Italian Institute of Oriental Studies. He is a world expert on archaic Chinese jades, having released multiple publications and being cited by renowned auction houses such as Sotheby’s.