Sculpture

Rare and intriguing sculpture depicting a horned deity with an extraterrestrial appearance, from Nefriet (often also called 'Nefriet Jade'), created by members of the Chinese Hongshan Culture, which originated in the Neolithic, around 4000 years ago. This very enigmatic, characterful figure weighs 941 g (0.94 kg), is 19.2 cm tall, 13.5 cm wide and up to 3 cm thick. The sculpture does not come with an age report, so its exact age cannot be determined with certainty, while the quality, execution, iconography and stylistic features do point to the Hongshan culture. The Hongshan culture in which this sculpture came about remains surrounded by many mysteries, because research into this culture is still in its early stages. Scientists believe that the decline of this advanced culture was due to a great natural catastrophe of apocalyptic proportions, such as a Biblical flood, to which the legendary disappeared continent Atlantis is also said to have fallen. Certain conspiracy theorists are even of the opinion that this vanished civilization kept contact with aliens, because of the sometimes very bizarre sculptures that often look extremely unusual, and in some cases seem to fully correspond to the image people typically have of extraterrestrials... Because the very remote archaeological Hongshan site in northeastern China was discovered and studied relatively late by Japanese researchers, these finds were long ignored by the Chinese scientific elite, who had always assumed that the cradle of Chinese civilization lay elsewhere. In recent years, however, this view has been revised and there is a cautious admission that the cradle of Chinese civilization indeed lies in Hongshan (which means 'red mountain' in Chinese, named after the site of discovery). The current rulers in China have therefore announced that the focus of scientific research into the earliest origins of Chinese civilization will increasingly shift to the aforementioned area. Along with this announcement, a series of books and TV documentaries are planned for the coming years to bring Hongshan culture more to the attention of the world public. For now, only a few publications are available that provide more information. An important reference book for this type of Hongshan sculpture is the catalog published by the prestigious Aurora Museum in Shanghai (China), which also has a branch in Taipei (Taiwan). View the last photo with an image of the book’s cover, of which the sculpture is an exemplar of the typical alien-like iconography. (Note: this book is not part of this lot, and the photo is for reference only!) If you fail to obtain a copy of this very rare book, I recommend consulting the English Wikipedia page dedicated to the 'Hongshan Culture' (also available in many other languages). There is no certainty about the precise age of this delicate sculpture, only that it possesses all the stylistic characteristics of this ancient, lost civilization. The rare object will be shipped to the buyer immediately with a Track & Trace shipment, very well packaged to prevent any damage in transit.

Estimate:$168.06

View all items fromCatawikiorEthnographic