Squared disc (cong)

Elaborately furnished Chinese tombs of the late fourth and third millennia B.C. reveal that jade objects were prestigious burial gifts, particularly among the Liangzhu people of the eastern coast (present-day Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces). This bracelet-like form is carved with a masklike image composed of circles and bars that suggest eyes and nose or mouth. The same motif is seen in the tapered exterior surfaces of tall prisms, where it is multiplied in vertical tiers.

Jade-rich burials suggest that Chinese beliefs in the stone's life-preserving properties originated in prehistoric times.