Neolithic Period, Liangzhu Culture (ca. 3400 – ca. 2200 BCE)
Height: 9.5 cm.
Provenance:
A Distinguished Chinese Collector Important North American Collector
Exhibited & Published:
Weisbrod 30 Years, An Anniversary Exhibition, Spring 2002, Weisbrod Chinese Art, Ltd., New York, no. 1M.
This object is square in cross-section and remains undecorated on the upper half. The lower half of the rectangular object is decorated much like a cong, or prismatic ritual object (see cat. no. 1A). Two registers of decor contain mask images that wrap around two corners of the object. The first register contains two incised bands of decor, broken at the center of each side, underneath which two eyes and a bar-shaped mouth wrap around two corners.
The second register contains much larger, ovoid eyes and a bar- shaped mouth. Underneath this register, the same incised bands are repeated. At either end of the utensil, the edges of the four corners are incised.
This utensil is similar to awl-shaped ornaments, which were also decorated much like cong, but tapered to a point at one end.
Reportedly discovered in Zhejiang Province.