良渚 青玉五层琮
Of tall, square-section form with a cylindrical aperture, the exterior carved in five registers with stylized mask motifs, the stone of variegated green tone extensively suffused with calcified deposits and earthy encrustation, the surfaces weathered. Liangzhu Culture.
Height:5 3/4 in (14.6 cm)Width:2 3/4 in (7.0 cm)
Provenance: From the private collection of Professor William Shum, Los Angeles (Lot 2027-2028). The Shen family, originally from Changzhou, Jiangsu, China is a distinguished lineage with a longstanding tradition of art collecting. Following 1949, the family relocated to Hong Kong. Professor Shen graduated from the University of Hong Kong and later moved to Los Angeles. He taught architecture at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and serves as a consultant to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.The family has maintained an important collection over generations. In 2009, they donated a national-treasure-level early Ming gilt-bronze figure of Guanyin seated on a mythical beast back to mainland China. The sculpture is now enshrined at the Daguan Yin Chan Temple on Xishan, Suzhou, and has been widely reported in the media.
A related Liangzhu culture mottled celadon jade cong of comparable form and material was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong in 2020, achieving HKD 3,780,000 (estimate HKD 2,000,000–3,000,000). Further comparison may be made with a Liangzhu culture jade cong in the collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum (accession no. O.2-1946), similarly of square exterior and cylindrical interior, segmented and decorated with bands of zoomorphic masks, dated to circa 3000–2000 BC, closely comparable in form and decorative vocabulary to the present example.

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