China, c. 4000-3000 BC. The well-polished stone is carved and pierced in the form of an animal mask, decorated with arched brows above circular eyes, and horns which are carved to the top of the curved protruding ears. The details of the face are carefully rendered with thick concave troughs and the bottom of the jade is carved with five teeth. The mostly translucent stone is of a russet and pale celadon tone with yellow as well as dark caramel streaking, and sparse icy inclusions.

Provenance: From the Sam and Myrna Myers Collection. Sam and Myrna are first generation Americans, who shared a taste for collecting beautiful objects of art. On a trip to Ascona, Switzerland, the couple stumbled into a small antique shop which started their journey of collecting antiques. When Sam Myers was sent to Paris by his law firm in the mid-1960s, he and his wife Myrna became so enamored with the city that they decided to make it their home. There, over the course of 50 years, they built an extraordinary art collection, and in 1976, Myrna opened a gallery in Paris specializing in Asian art. Their collection spans a wide range of precious objects from Chinese jades, ceramics, textiles, Indian ivory carvings, to Japanese clothing and lacquer, some of which was exhibited in the Kimbell Art Museum. Part of their collection was sold at Sotheby’s, London ‘Two Americans in Paris, The Collection of Sam and Myrna Myers’, on 4 November 2021. The couple also worked together with jade expert Filippo Salviati to create one of the most outstanding jade collections globally and authored several books on jade, including ‘Radiant Stones’ (2000), ‘The Language of Adornment’ (2002) and ‘Genèse de l’empire céleste’ (2020).
Condition: Very good condition with old wear, signs of weathering and erosion, and minuscule nibbling, all as expected for a jade which has been buried for several millennia.

Weight: 80.9 g
Dimensions: Length 17.9 cm

Hongshan ‘toothed’ pendants are characterized by a stylized mask carved in the center and a row of double-pointed protrusions at the bottom that resemble the teeth of an animal: the central mask is flanked on both sides by flattened extensions with a straight incision at the center.

Literature comparison:
Compare a related jade toothed mask ornament, 17.2 cm long, Hongshan culture, in the collection of the Smithsonian Freer Gallery of Art, accession number F1991.52.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie’s Hong Kong, 28 November 2018, lot 2708
Price: HKD 1,750,000 or approx. EUR 229,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A very rare celadon jade toothed animal mask ornament, Hongshan culture, circa 4000-3000 BC
Expert remark: Compare the closely related form and color. Note the smaller size (12 cm).

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie’s Hong Kong, 29 November 2017, lot 2704
Price: HKD 10,900,000 or approx. EUR 1,450,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A very rare green jade toothed animal mask ornament, late Hongshan culture
Expert remark: Compare the closely related form. Note the slightly larger size (19.6 cm)