Minneapolis Institute of Art

Ornament decorated with human and beast masks

China

Date

3300–2000 BCE

Medium

Calcified tan-gray jade

Department

Asian Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

The semicircular ornament bears a depiction of a stylized human face with only a pair of eyes but detailed, striated hair. Below is a beast mask dominated by two large almond-shaped eyes with pupils, a broad nose, and a mouth. This ornamentation is typical of divine figures on jades from the Neolithic Liangzhu culture, which flourished in the present-day lower Yangzi River delta. The design on this jade is a simpler form with neither bodies of humans nor beasts. Two pairs of holes along the edge of the plain back allowed it to be attached to other objects. Several semicircular ornaments with similar designs unearthed from Fanshan, the Neolithic site in Zhejiang, were found located near the deceased’s head, an indication that they might have served as hair ornaments. China, Asia

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