Object: Sword pommel with dragons F1939.15

Classification: Weapon and Armament

Historical period(s): Western Han dynasty, 206 BCE-9 CE

Object Date: 206 BCE-9 CE

Medium: Jade (nephrite)

Dimension(s): Diam x D: 5.3 x 0.8 cm (2 1/16 x 5/16 in)

Origin: China

Credit Line: Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

Collection: Freer Gallery of Art Collection

Accession Number: F1939.15

: 龍紋劍首
西漢（公元前206--公元9年）
中國，傳安徽壽縣出土
軟玉
高5.3、寬5.3、厚0.8釐米
查爾斯·蘭·佛利爾基金捐購
器物編號：F1939.15

Provenance: About 1930
Reportedly discovered in archaeological site at Shou xian, Anhui province, China [1]

?–1939
Zhang Naiji (1899–1948), Shanghai, China, and New York, NY, from at least April 17, 1939 [2]

From 1939
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased through C. T. Loo and Company, New York, from Zhang Naiji on April 17, 1939 [3]

Notes:

[1] According to information provided by Zhang Naiji to John Ellerton Lodge at the time of acquisition, see John Ellerton Lodge’s note, 1939, in object file. Zhang Naiji stated that he had obtained the jades, selected by the Freer Gallery from a group of about 350 pieces offered for sale (F1939.6–F1939.26 and F1939.28–F1939.33), at the places of their excavation. Lodge commented in his 1939 note: “I see no good reason to doubt [Zhang’s] statement. I have, therefore, specified Shou Chou [Shou xian], or An yang, or Lo yang [Luoyang] (Chin Ts’un [Jincun]) as the source of a piece in accordance with Mr. Chang’s [Zhang’s] designations given in my presence and recorded by me.”

[2] See note 1. See also “List of objects contemplated for purchase by Freer Gallery of Art,” approved on February 1, 1939, Freer Gallery of Art Purchase List file, copy in object file. According to an annotation on the list, the purchase was made from C. T. Loo and Company, New York, acting as agent for the owner and the payment was made on April 17, 1939. Zhang Naiji (also known as N. C. Chang) was a businessman, born to a prestigious family in Zhejiang that made their wealth in the silk and salt industries. He collected ancient Chinese art objects and Chinese coins. Zhang amassed his collection whilst living in Shanghai, before leaving for America in 1938. Zhang did not return to China until 1946. While the earliest documentation of Zhang’s ownership of the jade dates to February 1939, we know that he acquired the objects in China before his departure.

[3] See “List of objects contemplated for purchase by Freer Gallery of Art,” approved on February 1, 1939, cited in note 2.

Previous owner(s): Zhang Naiji 張乃驥 (1899-1948)
C.T. Loo & Company (1914-1948)
C. T. Loo 盧芹齋 (1880-1957)

Description: Ornament. Perforated disk of translucent gray nephrite with dark flecks; center plug of another material; countersunk reliefs of dragons and spirals; three holes for attachment.

Curatorial Remarks

1. Bought through C. T. Loo and Company, New York, from Chang Nai chi [Zhang Naiji] 張乃驥. For price, see Freer Gallery of Art Purchase List After 1920.
2. (John Ellerton Lodge, 1939) See Folder F1939.6, Paragraph 2.
3. (Undated Folder Sheet note) The beveled edge makes one surface about 1 1/2 mm less in diameter than the other. Can the plug be bronze, now completely degenerated, or a stone or composition of some sort? In any case, its only function seems to have been to conceal the means of attachment. The size and shape of this object suggest that it should be classified with the type of jade ornament illustrated by Wu Ta ch'eng [Wu Dacheng] 吳大澂 (Ku-yu t'u k'ao [Guyu tu kao] 古玉圖考 [Shanghai: Tongwen shuju, 1889], Vol. II, p. 108) and by him called ch'i [qi] ? (also written 璂 or 琪). Wu 吳 quotes the Chou Li [Zhou Li] 周禮 (夏官, 弁師; see also Biot, Le Tcheou li, Livre 32, 5) to show that a number of such ornaments were attached to the seams of the King's leathern cap; but it does seem that a large, heavy button, such as this piece obviously is, may well have fulfilled some more practical and less cumbersome purpose. See also F1939.7.
4. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Specific gravity cannot be determined owing to presence of foreign material in center.
5. (William B. Trousdale, 1964) Han 漢 dynasty. Early Western Han 漢 dynasty. The Shou Chou [Shou xian] 壽縣 provenance is unverifiable. The piece is quite large to have served as an inlay for a sword pommel, as suggested by Salmony (Chinese Jade through the Wei Dynasty [New York: The Ronald Press Company, 1963]), and may have served some other purpose.
6. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, August 12, 2008) Weapon and Armament added as secondary classification.
7. (Stephen Allee, June 2, 2009) Corrected name of previous owner from Zhang Naiqi to Zhang Naiji 張乃驥 and added Chinese characters, as well as his life dates (1899--1948) and a brief biography.
8. (Jenny Liu, Researcher July 28, 2006)
Found in Jincun 金村? Henan 河南
Zhang Naiji 張乃驥, Shanghai 上海, by June 30, 1939
(via C. T. Loo, New York)
The Freer Gallery, 1939--present
Possibly created for Nazi Holocaust Provenance
9. (Stephen Allee per Keith Wilson, August 25, 2009) As per Jenny F. So, Jade Project Database, changed Period One from "Han 漢 dynasty" to "Western Han 漢 dynasty"; changed Date from "480--221 BCE" to "BCE 206--9 CE"; changed Title from "Ornament" to "Sword pommel"; changed Object Name from "Weapon: sword fitting, pommel" to "Decorative fitting"; as per Christine Lee, Jade Project Database, changed Dimensions from "Diameter 5.2 cm" to "Diam x D: 5.3 x 0.8 cm (2 1/16 x 5/16 in)"; changed Medium from "Jade (nephrite)" to "Jade" as no Conservation Report is on file.
10. (Rebecca Merritt, January 6, 2014) Transferred from Published References: Wu Ta ch'eng [Wu Dacheng] 吳大澂, Ku-yu t'u k'ao [Guyu tu kao] 古玉圖考 (Shanghai: Tongwen shuju, 1889), Vol. II, p. 108.
11. (Jeffrey Smith per Matthew Clarke, July 8, 2022) Medium changed from "Jade" to "Jade (nephrite)."
12. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, January 29, 2024) Title changed from "Sword pommel" to "Sword pommel with dragons"; added Geography (provenance) "China, purportedly found at Anhui province, Shou xian"; and added Chinese caption by Jingmin Zhang.

Published References

Alfred Salmony. Chinese Jade Through the Wei Dynasty. New York, 1963. pl. 16, no. 1.
Edouard Biot. Le Tcheou-li: Ou rites des Tcheou, traduit pour la premiere fois du chinois. vol. 2, Paris. p. 5.

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Sword pommel with dragons

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