A Chinese jade ceremonial blade (chan), Neolithic period, of slightly tapered oblong form, with bevelled cutting edge to one end and drilled circular hafting aperture towards the other, the stone of brown and green mottled tone with black, cinnamon and white cloudy inclusions, length 18.1cm (chips to edges), bearing paper collectors' labels and numbers. Provenance: formerly from the estate of the late Frederick Sydney Clark (1923-2016), and formerly in the Harry Geoffrey Beasley Collection. Note: Harry Beasley (1881-1939) was a British anthropologist and museum curator who set up the Cranmore Ethnographical Museum, which eventually held more than 6000 objects.