A JADE HORSE-HOOF-SHAPED ORNAMENTHongshan Culture, Neolithic PeriodOf circular tapered form hollowed in the centre, the smoothly patinated stone of a variegated grey and light brown colour with subtle darker undertones.7.2cm (2 7/8in) wide.For further information on this lot please visit theProvenance: 新石器時期 紅山文化 斜口筒形器The hoof-shaped ornaments are one of the major categories of Hongshan Culture jade carvings. A carving of this size could only have been made from a substantial block of material, the centre of which was then removed to make it hollow. Such extravagant use of material was not typical of other Hongshan jades and hence the shape would appear in tombs of members of the noble class. For an example ofparable proportion, see a hoof-shaped ornament in the Beijing Antiquepany, illustrated inGems of Beijing Cultural Relics Series: Jades, Beijing, 1999, pl.6, p.42; see also two similar hoof-shaped ornaments in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated by Teng Shu-ping inSelected Jades in the National Palace Museum: Volume One – The Spirit of Jade, I, Taipei, 2019, pl.I-025 and I-026. The author notes that the function remains unclear but that the excavations at the Anhui Lingjiatan sites in 1987 and 2007, suggest the influence of the Lingjiatan Culture; the British Museum, London, has a larger piece, illustrated by J.Rawson,Chinese Jades from the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, pl.1:2.斜口筒形器，亦稱馬蹄形器，是一種費工廢料的玉器，在文化高度發展的紅山文化晚期遺址中，只出現在高規格的墓葬中。北京市文物公司藏一件馬蹄形器可資參考，見《北京文物精粹大系玉器卷》，北京，1999年，頁42，圖版6；另可比較兩件斜口筒形器，藏於臺北故宮，見鄧淑蘋編，《故宮玉器精選全集第一卷：玉之靈．I》，臺北，2019年，編號I-025及I-026，此書另提及，學術界對這類器形的造形源流及功能内涵尚未有定論。隨著1987、2007年安徽凌家灘遺址出土玉龜殼、玉龜狀扁圓形器與斜口斜口筒形器，此器或是受凌家灘文化影響的產物。大英博物館藏一類例，尺寸略較此拍品大，刊於 J.Rawson，《Chinese Jades from the Neolithic to the Qing》，倫敦，1995年，圖版1:2。