China, c. 8th century BC to 2nd century AD. The tubular bead drilled vertically from both sides and finely carved to the exterior with four rows of confronted C-curls alternately arranged vertically and horizontally. The opaque stone of a mottled brown and beige color with black patches and veins, as well as areas of calcification.

Provenance: Collection of Lee Kong Chian, Singapore, thence by descent to his nephew Oey Ek His. Collection of Paolo Bertuzzi, acquired from the above in the 1990s (by family repute). Lee Kong Chian (1893-1967) was a prominent Chinese Singaporean businessman and philanthropist based in Malaya and Singapore between the 1930s and the 1960s. He was the founder of the Lee Foundation and one of the richest men in Southeast Asia in the 1950s and 1960s. Paolo Bertuzzi (1943-2022) was a fashion stylist from Bologna, Italy. He was the son of Enrichetta Bertuzzi, founder of Hettabretz, a noted Italian fashion company with customers such as the Rothschild family, Audrey Hepburn, and Elizabeth Taylor. Paolo Bertuzzi later took over his mother's business and designed exclusive pieces, some of which were exhibited in the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum in New York, USA. He was also an avid collector of antiques for more than 60 years. His collection includes both archaic and contemporary art, and he edited two important books about Asian art, Goa Made - An Archaeological Discovery, about a large-scale archaeological project carried out with the Italian and Indonesian governments, and Majapahit, Masterpieces from a Forgotten Kingdom.
Condition: Very good condition with minor wear and natural imperfections, small nibbles, chips, and nicks along the edges.

Weight: 32.6 g
Dimensions: Height 4.6 cm

Literature comparison:
A closely related bead from the collection of Simon Kwan was included in the exhibition Chinese Archaic Jades from the Kwan Collection, Art Gallery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1994, cat. no. 162.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Sotheby's New York, 14 September 2019, lot 1335
Price: USD 9,375 or approx. EUR 10,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A brown and celadon jade bead, Eastern Zhou-Han dynasty
Expert remark: Compare the related scroll motifs. Note the similar size (4.4 cm).