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Bi-like jade disk formed of five huang-shaped ornaments, late Neolithic/Xia period, attributed to Qijia/Taosi/ Northwest Longshan culture.

FOR 2/22

JADES OF THE QIJIA AT THROCKMORTON MARCH 6 W/1 CUT

AV/CD 2/15 #729145

NEW YORK CITY — Throckmorton Fine Art will exhibit precious jade artifacts from China’s Neolithic Qijia culture in the exhibition “Qijia: Jades of the Qijia and Related Northwestern Cultures of Early China,” on view March 6–29. Artifacts from this culture date to 2100–1600 BCE, and are found in China’s far northwest corner (mostly southern and eastern Gansu).

There are two prominent jade forms from the late Neolithic era in China: the perforated disk bi and the prismatic cylinder cong. These forms emerged from central and southeastern coastal cultures, and were important for symbolic and ritual purposes.

Qijia artisans appropriated these forms, but frequently made them more monumental and employed more diverse jade and jadelike stones. Also included in the exhibit are jade blades and other, smaller works. The highly polished jades vary in color from a pure pale green-white to a “sugary” gray to a dark green.

Qijia jades are not well known in the United States, but were prominent in the collection of the art-loving emperor Qianlong (who ruled China in the Eighteenth Century). His Qijia bi and cong are now in the imperial collection preserved in the National Palace Museum in Taipei (Taiwan).

Qijia jades are unembellished; they are pure abstract form, fashioned out of raw jade and other rare minerals. The exhibit presents an opportunity to rediscover these masterpieces.

The exhibit is accompanied by a catalog featuring essays by two prominent scholars of early Chinese material culture, Gu Fang and Elizabeth Childs-Johnson.

Throckmorton Fine Art is at 145 East 57th Street, third floor. For information, www.throckmorton-nuc.com or 212-223-1059.