A LARGE AND VERY RARE ARCHAIC JADE 'BUFFALO' CARVING Late Shang DynastyTHE PROPERTY OF A BRITISH FAMILY英國家族藏品A LARGE AND VERY RARE ARCHAIC JADE 'BUFFALO' CARVINGLate Shang DynastyThickly carved with a central aperture, each side incised with bovine taotie masks formed by a tapering nose underneath two slanted eyes and a pair of horns above a grooved channel, the stone of pale green tone with russet and milky-white inclusions. 5.4cm (2 1/8in) high. 商晚期 饕餮紋玉牛首把件Provenance: Prof. Cheng Te-k'un (1908-2001), Cambridge (the Mu-Fei collection)Bluett & Sons Ltd., LondonA British private collectionPublished, Illustrated and Exhibited: Bluett & Sons Ltd., Chinese Jades from the Mu-Fei Collection, London, 1990, no.16來源：鄭德坤（1908-2001）教授舊藏，劍橋（木扉舊藏）倫敦古董商Bluett & Sons Ltd.英國私人收藏展覽著錄： Bluett & Sons Ltd.，《木扉珍藏玉器》，倫敦，1990年， 編號16Compare with a related archaic jade 'mask' bead, Shang dynasty, illustrated in the Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum, Beijing, 2011, p.156, no.165. See also a related smaller jade bead carved with the head of an animal, Shang dynasty, illustrated by J.Rawson, Chinese Jade: from the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, p.239, no.14:2, which was later sold at Sotheby's London, 8 December 2022, lot 156. Compare also a related jade Buffalo head, carved in the round, Shang dynasty, in the Harvard Art Museums (acc.no.1943.50.465), illustrated by M.Loehr and L.G.Fitzgerald Huber, Ancient Chinese Jades from the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection in the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 1975, p.127, no.155. See also a related jade bovine carved bead, Shang dynasty, in the Art Institute Chicago (acc.no.1950.272).See also a related but smaller dark grey-green jade 'bovine' bead, late Shang dynasty, which was sold at Christie's London, 3 November 2020.sold_price_type: £