Pendant in the form of a female dancer

1. Bought from C. T. Loo and Company, New York, NY. For price, see "Freer Gallery of Art Purchase List after 1920."

2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: Period of the Warring States.

3. (John Ellerton Lodge, 1939) 4th century BCE or earlier, Late Chou [Zhou] 周 dynasty.

4. (Archibald Gibson Wenley, 1946) Owing to similarities of work, material, and design with authenticated Lo yang [Luoyang] 洛陽 objects, we feel that this piece is also of that group.

5. (Hin-cheung Lovell, 1977) For a similar figure in ivory discovered in a Western Han 漢 tomb near Nan ch'ang [Nanchang] 南昌, Kiangsu [Jiangsu] 江蘇 province, see Ch'en Wen-hua [Chen Wenhua] 陳文華, "Nan-ch'ang tung-chiao Hsi-han mu [Nanchang dongjiao Xihan mu] 南昌東郊西漢墓," Kao ku hsueh pao [Kaogu xuebao] 考古學報 1976. 2, pp. 171 186, pl. 6:2.

6. (Julia K. Murray, 1980) Exhibition Ancient Chinese Jade label text; moved to label field. See F1930.43.

7. (Thomas Lawton, Chinese Art of the Warring States Period: Change and Community, 480-222 B.C. [Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1982], cat. no. 79) The dancer looks directly forward. Facial details are few, with emphasis on the elaborate coiffure that includes a full crown, short wavy locks over the ears, and tiered plaits that hang down the back. One arm is placed across the dancer's waist, the other is raised over her head. Long, fluted inner sleeves project from the full outer garment. Incised lines indicate the folds of the sleeves and skirt, and a band of cross hatching decorates the sleeve edges. Striated lines embellish the collar and lower hem. The curvilinear rhythms of the long, flowing sleeves are partially counterbalanced by the contour of the dramatically pointed skirt. The shape of the skirt, which probably was intended to suggest a dancing pose, lends a curious instability to the figure. Although the dancing figures on the jade and gold pectoral (F1930.27) exemplify a more successful solution to the same problem, comparison of the overall design still suggests a Chin ts'un [Jincun] 金村 provenance for the pendant. On the lower edge of the skirt is a small, perforated projection.

A jade plaque in the Fogg Museum presents a dancer in the same general pose as that on the Freer pendant. The Fogg plaque, however, is considerably more geometric in form, with conspicuous, even crude, drill holes indicating how the openwork designs were worked. [1] Even more abstract is the ivory plaque found in a Western Han 漢 tomb near Nan ch'ang [Nanchang] 南昌, Kiangsi [Jiangxi] 江西 province. [2]

Tibor Horvath illustrates a jade dancing figure, which he assigns to the Warring States Period. [3]

[1] Max Loehr, Ancient Chinese Jades from the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection in the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University (Cambridge, MA: Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, 1975), p. 282, no. 412.

[2] Ch'en Wen-hua [Chen Wenhua] 陳文華, "Nan-ch'ang tung-chiao Hsi-han mu [Nanchang dongjiao Xihan mu] 南昌東郊西漢墓," Kao ku hsueh pao [Kaogu xuebao] 考古學報 1976. 2, pp. 171 186, pl. 6:2.

[3] Tibor Horvath, "Four Archaic Chinese Jade Carvings," Az imarmuveszeti muzeum evkonyvei 1964.7, p. 184, fig. 4a-b.

8. (Stephen Allee per Keith Wilson, June 19, 2008) Deleted "Jincun 金村" from Artist; added "Possibly Jincun 金村, Henan 河南 province" to Geographical location, Origin.

9. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, July 1, 2008) "Jewelry" added as secondary classification.

10. (Susan Kitsoulis per Keith Wilson, May 24, 2010) Changed Object Name from "Pendant: dancer" to "Jewelry."

11. (Jeffrey Smith per Janet Douglas, July 21, 2010) "Nephrite" added as modifier to existing medium of "Jade" based on conservation analysis.

12. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, January 26, 2022) Object Name changed from "Jewelry" to "Pendant"; added "Warring States period" to Period Two; added Chinese caption; and added Past Label Text.