BEAD IN THE SHAPE OF A CONG. Jade. China, Late Neolithic period, Liangzhu culture, ca.3300-2200 BC. HEIGHT 6,2 AND 4,95 CM
A rare genuine necklace bead carved in the shape of miniature cong. As we know from the archaeological records, Liangzu culture cong come in varying sizes: each with a possibly different use and meaning according to the proportion of the object, its distribution and local usages. Despite its small size, this bead - which was strung together with several others, plain or carved, to compose elaborate necklaces reserved for the members of the Liangzhu elite- is finely worked and present all the elements that can be seen on larger cong. The congs generally look like a hollowed cylinder with an external, squared profile conferred to them by the projections, onto which the two types of Liangzhu jade masks are minutely incised. This bead presents the animal mask motif with slanting eyes between two human-like masks. The round eye of this latter motif is set at the centre and on the sides of the object, so that it is shared by both masks placed at the corresponding corners. This is due to the reduced size of the cong which did not provide enough space for carving two complete mask motifs. However, it is perfectly justified by the fact that when looking at a cong, one has to glance not at the sides of the object but at its corners (which also provide the axis of symmetry for the mask motifs, separating them into two identical halves) in order to clearly discern and recognize the mask motif. Another interesting feature of this miniature cong is the strong discolouration of the stone. The jade has diffused yellowish tones, which may indicate a ritual burning of the object when it was placed in the tomb, although artefacts carved in jade with yellow tones are known from a number of major Liangzhu sites, such as Fuquanshan (Qingpu County, Shanghai), Zhanglingshan (Wu County, Jiangsu) and Fanshan (Yuhang County, Zhejiang). This miniature cong can be compared to similar ones excavated from Liangzhu culture sites, such as those reproduced in Institute of archaeology of Zhejiang province, Liangzhu wenhua yuqi, nos. 70 and 175-177, and in Huang Xuanpei, Gems of the Liangzhu culture, no.69. From an old Austrian private collection acquired in the early 1980’s.