A FINE WHITE JADE ADZE, BEN, QIJIAJade. China, Qijia culture, c. 2200-1600 BCThis striking chisel-shaped blade in white jade with cloudy inclusions has an almost marble-like texture, created by the striations of white, brown, and black running through the stone, and the contrast between the calcified area on one side and the rest of the semitranslucent jade. The blade has gently curved lateral sides and a slightly beveled bottom edge: the top side, with a hole in the upper central area, is cut straight across.This type of white jade with inclusions was probably obtained from deposits in Qinghai province, as shown by comparable excavated examples carved in a similar material: see a slightly thicker chisel of equal size found in 1974 in Changwu county, Xianyang, Shaanxi province, in Yang Boda (ed.), Zhongguo yuqi quanji: 3, Chunqiu Zhanguo (Chinese Jades: 3, Spring and Autumn and Warring States), Hebei 1993, no. 196. A second comparable example from the Max Loehr (1903-1988) collection is published in Lally & Co., Chinese Archaic Jades and Bronzes From the Estate of Professor Max Loehr and Others, New York 1993, no. 25.LENGTH 13.9 cm, WIDTH 4.1 cmCondition: Good condition with usual traces of wear and age.Provenance: Collection of Prof. Filippo Salviati.