Sword scabbard chape with mask

1. Bought through C. T. Loo and Co., 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 mask on the convex side may serve to place the bottom and front of the  ornament. Apart from the mask, the front and back are similar, although the elements of the design are  somewhat differently arranged and treated on the concave side. What I have called "holes for attachment" are  curiously asymmetrical, there being three of them in one long margin and only one in the other; moreover, there is but one of them which can certainly be said to have been made without reference to the decorative effect. Altogether, it is difficult even to guess how this object was used.

4. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Sp. G. is 2.898. Advanced decomposition prevents an accurate calculation for nephrite.

5. (William B. Trousdale, 1964) Late Eastern Chou [Zhou] 周, or Warring States period. The Shou Chou [Shou xian] 壽縣 provenance is unverifiable. Probably an ornamentation for a sheath, most likely one of a pair of scabbard chape ornaments  from a sword scabbard. See profile shape, width and curvature with F1919.41, a chape of a more common variety. The small holes along the sides served to fasten this openwork plaque to the scabbard which most likely was of black or brown lacquer.

6. (Thomas Lawton, Chinese Art of the Warring States Period: Change and Continuity, 480--222 B.C. [Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1982], cat. no. 106) Symmetrical in its basic design, the tan jade is animated by a series of subtle variations. Perhaps the most apparent of those variations can be seen in the different sizes of  reticulated curls at the base of the ornament; violating the separation of individual motifs, one curl overlaps the  central portion of the design thereby echoing the incised curls that so dominate the composition. The monster mask elements at the top conform to the scale and arrangement of other parts of the ornamentation. As  is typical of designs on chapes or chape ornaments, the monster mask is placed so as to appear right side up to the wear of the scabbard.

The plaque probably was one of a pair that would have ornamented a sword sheath. Small holes along the sides of the piece served to fasten the openwork plaque to the scabbard which most likely would have been made of  lacquered wood. Considering the difficulty of working jade and the fact that the surface attached to the sheath  would rarely have been seen, it is remarkable that the inner, concave surface of the piece is as carefully decorated as is the outside, although the monster mask has been omitted.

The Shou chou [Shou xian] 壽縣 attribution for the ornament is not verifiable.

7. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, July 8, 2008) Ceremonial Object added as secondary classification.

8. (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.

9. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, February 1, 2024) Title changed from "Scabbard chape ornament" to "Sword scabbard chape with mask"; Period One changed from "Eastern Zhou dynasty" to "Western Han dynasty"; removed "Warring States period" from Period Two; changed date from "5th-4th century BCE" to "206 BCE–9 CE"; Geography (provenance) added as "China, purportedly found at Anhui province, Shou xian"; and added Chinese caption by Jingmin Zhang.