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| Re: More pieces for sale - an interesting Hongshan rhyton |
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Posted By: Mircea Veleanu Posted Date: Feb 02, 2009 (07:11 PM) |
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Message Hello again Bill! While this posting is a quiz about sonorous jade, you are digressing from the main subject and asking questions in regard to a Hong Shan carving that is on one of my websites. I feel obliged to answer to your several questions. You claim that you have viewed more than 1000 Hong Shan carvings but I never saw a carving like this. First of all, there are in existence very few Hong Shan jade carvings. 99% of all Hong Shan carvings are made from hardstone, mostly bowenite (from Inner Mongolia) and a few made from serpentine (originating from Lioning). The color of the hardstone Hong Shan carvings (please note that I don't use the term nephrite or jade) in the great majority is very dark brown, almost black and has brownish inclusions. A few of Hong Shan carvings that are made of serpentine are green, but opaque, not the translucent, inclusions free serpentine, we are accustomed to. This rhyton jade is extremely rare, probably unique (you did not see one like this, me either). With certitude is not serpentine, but carved from high quality celadon jade. The price on the website is extremely low as small pieces of Hong Shan nephrite sold at auctions in China is in hundreds of thousands of US dollars. The examination of the carving shows a damage on the nostril of the mythical winged creature and the high magnification reveals that the carving is archaic. The website did not provide any additional photos of the area of archaic or ancient damage. The surface of the carving reveals meticulous polished surface typical to Hong Shan carvings. The nostrils have drilling done in the typical neolithic fashion and oblique side to side typical for Hong Shan. The eyes of the creature are enormous and almond shaped, typical for Hong Shan. Regarding the carving lines, erroneously, you described as done with modern tooling. I don't blame you but most of the Hong Shan "experts" don't know what it is modern tooling and you learnt the wrong things from those people. If you look to the carving line, you notice that the line is U shape with margins that are rounded. The bottom of the carved line is narrow, as was carved with a tool that is conic shape. The word "carving" is a misnom, as the drilling was done with a bamboo or wood instrument that had at the end a corundum pomade. All neolithic carvings are crude for the above reasons and I blame your "teacher experts" you learnt from the other forum for the bad wording as " the carving lines were made extremely sloppy and are almost an insult to authentic Hongshan carvings". If you have ever seen any Hong Shan, or any neolithic carvings that are not crude, please post a photo of such (no fakes or repros, please). The quality of carving of this Hong Shan jade is absolutely superb and typical for the neolithic period. The rhyton is not having a deep hollow cavity and as a subject, I agree that was not described as such for the Hong Shan carvings, this makes it being so rare!. The interior of the carved line is not white, but if you have seen a white deposit, then this is material that sedimented in the crevice. This carving was never cleaned, I don't clean any antique jade and I consider cleaning of the jade as destroying the possibility to attribute its authenticity as an antique object. I don't want to hurt your ego, but you need to learn more from real scholars and not from Chicochai Forum experts, some of them I am aware joined this forum as well. You are very much willing to learn and I am sure that your knowledge will increase with the time. I planed to write a quiz regarding Hong Shan carvings, with photo illustrations and at present time i am not sure if I would do so. Mircea Veleanu Post a Response |
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- Bill - Feb 03, 2009 (09:44 PM)