Sculpture representing a man. Neolithic period, possibly Zhaobaogou culture (northwest China) 4800/4000 BC.

Sculpture representing a man. Neolithic period, possibly Zhaobaogou culture (northwest China) 4800/4000 B.C.
White jade Provenance: Throckmorton Gallery, New York.
A certificate of authenticity will be provided.
Measurements: 16 x 3 x 8.5 cm.

This white jade sculpture, depicting a stylized male figure in an upright position, is an extremely rare and valuable find in the corpus of early Neolithic anthropomorphic art in China, and can be attributed with reasonable certainty to the Zhaobaogou culture. This culture developed in northwest China, in what is now the upper reaches of the Liao River, and predates better known traditions such as the Hongshan or Liangzhu, being recognized for its painted pottery and its early forays into ritual sculpture.

The figure presents a frontal posture, rigid but not exempt of naturalism, with the legs slightly arched and the arms of the torso, with the hands joined at the waist. The face, although schematic, is defined by minimal but carefully carved features: a rounded nose, incised eyes and a slight indication of the mouth.

The material used - white nephrite, of great purity and hardness - has been worked by abrasion techniques with stone tools and fine sand, in the absence of metal tools. The choice of this variant of jade is not fortuitous: white jade was considered since archaic times as a symbol of spiritual purity, nobility and transcendence. Its milky color and almost cerulean texture endowed the piece with a sacred or totemic presence, probably destined for rituals related to fertility, the transmission of power or communication with ancestors.

Although no direct archaeological context is available for this particular piece, its typology coincides with other Neolithic figures found in sites of the Zhaobaogou culture, where the first signs of anthropomorphism in jade reflect an incipient dualistic worldview between the human and the spiritual, as well as a ritual conceptualization of the body. It is not excluded that these sculptures functioned as tribal emblems, votive statuettes or funerary protectors, inserted in larger ceremonial complexes.

From the historiographic point of view, this figure allows us to trace a formal and symbolic evolutionary line between the first jade sculptural essays of Zhaobaogou and the more complex representations of the Hongshan culture, anticipating in many aspects the development of ritualistic and funerary thought in pre-imperial China.