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hey,

is anyone able to tell whether this is
a) a real jade
b) an authentic neolithic Hongshan mask/pendant

many thanks in advance!

Based on just one poor image it's impossible to determine if it's real or not.
These archaic jade's need to be handled
My first is impression is that it's possible new and not jade.
Unless this has strong provenance I wouldn't touch it at all.
Regards,
Mark@imperial
Adams Asian Art

hi mark,

thanks you so much for replying! apologies for the poor quality and minimal photos in the initial posting, i have attached ones of higher quality if it's of any help.

completely agree with your advice that archaic jade needs to be handled. guess i was drawn to the craftsmanship of the object, thought it could potentially be nephrite jade? also it's absolutely humongous in comparison to other 'neolithic' jade masks i've come across which is rather odd (a little over 40 cm in length!!!)

any further thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

I would be very careful about buying this piece.
It looks to be non-jade and possibly serpentine that has been treated. Also little age based on what I can see imo.
Of course this is just based on pictures which is problematic in itself when dealing with jade.
If you require a more definitive answer I would seek out the large auction houses in your city. Namely Sotheby's, Christies or Bonham's.
But personally I think it's a tourist type carving and worth little money. A, large amount of these are being produced in China as the genuine ones are highly collectable and command high prices at auction.
Regards,
Mark@imperial
Adams Asian Art

cheers mark, will steer clear and stick to what im more familiar with!

Modern, made of cheaper serpentine with artificial toning. It would be almost impossible to find authentic Hongshan jade carvings these days. As a matter of fact, aka Hongshan culture was a recent discovery and without any authenticated written Hongshan language (i.e. scripts), and after studying Hongshan jade carvings for a while, I am not convinced that such a culture even existed. It is very possible that "Hongshan" culture may be just a general term that was applied to those Neolithic nomadic tribes that resided in the Inner Mongolia area. Many of so called Hongshan jade carvings were probably replica jades that were made in later era, notably those that were made during the Qing Emperor Qianlung era. Large Hongshan jade carvings with known and concrete provenances were few and far between. Many so called Hongshan jade carvings with provenances including some that were in renown museums were simply better fakes. In short, to find and prove any Hongshan jade carvings are authentic may be like an attempt to prove an Unicorn is authentic.
Therefore, instead of worrying about whether a piece of Hongshan jade carving is authentic, one may be better off just to appraise such a piece by the quality of its material and that of its carving. Incidentally, many large authentic Hongshan carvings were not made of jade (nephrite or jadeite, by Western definition.)

If you are serious about the collecting of Hongshan jades, you may want to consider obtaining the following Hongshan jade book:

Xiangyun Xuan Antique Jade Collection and Research
By Li Xiangyun
First Print January 2003
http: www.wenwu.com
Email: web@wenwu.com

ISBN 7-5010-1444-2/K.688

(see pictures of book)

If you are serious about the collecting of Hongshan jades, you may want to consider obtaining the following Hongshan jade book:

Hongshan Culture
Published by Inner Mongolia University Publishing Company
First January 2002
ISBN: 7-81074-290-6/J.22

Hongshan Antique Jade
By Xu Qiang
First Print April 2004
Blue Sky Publishing Co.
ISBN 7-80158-437-6

This book and another book written by the same author are probably the "bible" for the collecting of Hongshan jades. There was a group of very knowledgeable and enthusiastic Hongshan jade collectors on around 2006. A group of us each purchased this set of two Hongshan jade books together (sent from Hong Kong). The pictures of the Hongshan jades on them are just terrific. They were not cheap. But before anybody should collect anything, buy the books first.

from Hongshan Antique Jade

Another book by Xu Qiang
Hongshan-Cultural Ancient Jade Apprisal
First Print January 2007
ISBN 978-7-80142-3/Z.436

from Hongshan-Cultural Ancient Jade Appraisal
A picture speaks a thousand words.
In this case, the pictures in this books are really good (see attached, not posted in high resolution, actual pictures are much better)

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