NEOLITHIC PERIOD, LIANGZHU CULTURE, CIRCA 3300-2300 BC

While the stone adze is associated with woodworking, the fine workmanship, crisp outlines, highly polished surface and near pristine condition of the present adze indicates its purpose was likely ceremonial rather than functional, and that it would have been intended for an individual of high status. A similar stone adze from Fuquanshan, Qingpu county, is illustrated by Huang Xuanpei, Gems of Liangzhu Culture, Hong Kong, 1992, p. 68, no. 11. See, also, the two Liangzhu stone adzes sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, Chinese Archaic Jades from The Yangdetang Collection, Part II, 28 November 2018, lot 2703. The stepped tang at the butt end of these stone adzes would have allowed them to be secured firmly to the wooden handles onto which they were hafted.