Pendant in the form of an archer’s thumbring with raised linked curls

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 fundamental and--in most respects probably--the final research on arrow  release, including the archer's thumb ring, was carried out and published by Edward S. Morse in two valuable  papers: "Ancient and Modern Methods of Arrow Release," Bulletin of the Essex Institute 17, nos. 10--12 (1885), 3--56; and Additional Notes on Arrow Release (Salem, MA: Peabody Museum, 1922); but to the best of my knowledge it is only since Morse's day that Chinese thumb rings like this one--and like our nos. F19 39.24 and F1939.25--have come to light. The distinguishing feature of these three rings is a pronounced spur which may have a variety of forms but is always in about the same position relative to the ring, and always projects at approximately the same angle. A few other examples of archer's rings with the special feature have been  recently reproduced by, for example, Tombs of Old Lo Yang: A Record of the Construction and Contents of a group of Royal Tombs at Chin ts'un, probably dating to 550 B.C. (Shanghai: Kelly and Walsh Limited, 1934), pl. 138:337a) and Umehara Sueji 梅原末治, Rakuyō Kinson kobo shūei 洛陽金村古墓聚英 (Kyoto: Kobayashi shashin seihanjo shuppanbu, 1937), pl. 88:3; but the spur was evidently unknown to Morse, since he neither described nor illustrated any rings provided with it. Of the same general type, lacking only the spur, he did, however, illustrate many examples (Morse, 1885, fig. 15; and 1922, pl. 1, 2 and 3), describing the type as "oblate, never cylindrical, one side flaring and in profile resembling, more or less, the visor of a cap" (Morse, 1922, p. 39). This type, according to Morse (loc. cit.) is one of "two distinct types of thumb rings," and "is found in Persia, Turkey, Asia Minor and Syria," as well as in Korea and India; while the other type is "cylindrical, long, thick" and "belongs strictly to China." This latter type also is represented in our collection (F1912.34, F1912.35 and F1914.74), and has been illustrated by Morse (1922, pl. 4). Variants of it, flattened on one side, are illustrated by Morse (1922, pl. 5) and Laufer (Jade: A Study in Chinese Archaeology and Religion [Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History, 1912], pl. 28: 7); but the only archer's ring illustrated by Wu Ta ch'eng [Wu Dacheng] 吳大澂 in Ku-yu t'u k'ao [ uy utu kao] 古玉圖考 (Shanghai: Tongwen shuju, 1889), Vol. II, p. 104) seems to belong to the oblate rather than the cylindrical  type. Morse says (1922, p. 39) that both types were used in connection with the "Mongolian release" (Morse,  1885, pp. 158--59, figs. 11 and 12; 1922, pp. 5--6, fig. 5), and this being true of the oblate type with which he was familiar, it is probably true also of the oblate type with a spur. Morse (1885, pp. 159--60, fig. 15) has described and illustrated from observation the way in which the oblate type without a spur is worn by modern Korean archers. From his drawing it is apparent that, in practice, the top joint of the thumb is thrust all the way through the ring from the convex side, and is then flexed so that the ball of the thumb lies in the concavity of the ring's visor like extension which, in turn, serves to protect the ball of the thumb from friction when the bow string
 is drawn and released. Now, if the spurred ring answered the same purpose and was worn in the same way-- as, apparently, must have been the case--then the spur, may well have served to guide the nock end of the  arrow and make the archer's grip on it more secure (see Morse, 1885, fig. 12); but should this be indeed the function of the spur, it is obvious that rings such as F1939.23, F1939.24 and F1939.25 could be worn only on the right thumb.  However, Morse (1885, p. 160, footnote) says that Korean archers, using the spurless oblate ring, commonly draw the bow with either hand; and White (op. cit., pls. 138:337 and 139: 337) illustrates two oblate rings--one without a spur, the other with two opposite spurs--which could have been worn on either thumb and, therefore, at least suggest that the modern Korean practice was already familiar to the Chinese of late Chou [Zhou] 周 times. Moreover, since the cylindrical type of ring now used in China is of known antiquity and may be worn on either thumb, it is quite possible that the Chinese have always drawn the bow with either hand and still do so, even though they seem long ago to have abandoned the use of oblate rings.

In the Shih Ching [Shijing] 詩經 (see James Legge, The Chinese Classics [London: Trubner & Co., 1871], Vol. IV, Part 1, p. 103), on verse of a song about a free and easy young man says "The youth with an archer's ring hung at his belt"; another verse, in a hunting song (Legge, op. cit., Vol. IV, Part II, p. 289), says: "Thumb rings and arm guards are already in position"; and in the Li Chi [Liji] 禮記 (see, for example, Seraphin Couvreur, Li kI [Ho Kien fou: Impr. De la Mission Catholique, 1913], Vol.  1, p. 621), a description of a young gentleman says: "On the right, he hangs an archer's ring and armguard at  his belt." These seem to be the earliest references to archers' rings in Chinese literature. But see also Annals of the Bamboo Books (Legge, op. cit., Vol. III, Part 1, Prolegomena, p. 115): Ii Wang Mu's coming to Court was to present white stone rings and archer's thumb rings (chueh [jue] 玦) of jade. The first and second passages probably, the third possibly, antedate our three oblate rings, and the practice  described may be older still; in any case, the fact that each of our rings is pierced for suspension should be noted  in this connection. Unfortunately, the Chinese terms 韘 (or 弽) she [she], 玦 (or 決 or 抉) chueh [jue], 夬 kuai [guai], 扳指 pan-chih [banzhi] and 指玦 chih-chueh [zhijue], meaning "an archer's thumb ring," convey no idea of type, although 玦 certainly suggests a ring made of jade. Oblate rings of jade and other materials were used also in Persia (see F1937.26; also Georges Marteau and Henri Vever, Miniatures Persanes [Paris: Bibliotheque d'art et d'archeologie, 1913], pl. 13:13; and see Arthur Upham Pope, ed., A Survey of Persian Art from Prehistoric Times to the Present [London: Oxford University Press, 1938], Vol. III, pp. 2583--84) and Mughal India, having probably been introduced (Morse, 1922, pp. 37--39) from the former country into the latter, where (see, for example, Sotherby's Catalogue of Valuable Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures, December 1929, Illustrations of Lots 278 and 107) they not only served their proper purpose in archery or were carried suspended  from the belt, as in China, but also were worn, whether on the thumb or at the belt, simply as ornaments  (ibid., Illustration of Lot 110; see also Morse, loc. cit.). Similarly, the fact that one, anyway, of our spurred rings (F1939.24) is much too small to be worn on the thumb also suggests the probably use of all three as symbolic girdle pendants for the living and for burial with the dead, in which case the spur, even if it once was functional, may have survived as a mere embellishment, less elaborate, only, than the decorative designs which adorn the more obviously ornamental thumb rings such as our F1939.26 and the later examples illustrated by Laufer (Jade: A Study in Chinese Archaeology and Religion [Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History, 1912], p. 223, fig. 122; p. 229, fig. 136; pp. 230--31; and pl. 29: 2, 3, 4). See also Folder F1939.26. Perhaps, too, there is symbolic significance in the representation of a bird which appears on each of our three spurred rings.

3. (Undated Folder Sheet note) For further examples of jade thumb rings, see 3000 Years of Chinese Jade (New York: Arden Gallery,1939), p. 79, no. 201; and Berthold Laufer, Archaic Chinese Jades Collected in China by A. W. Bahr now in Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago (New York: Privately printed for A. W. Bahr, 1927), pl. 34:3.

4. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Sp. G. is 2.986. 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, but reasonable. Some authorities believe objects such as this to be plectrums for strings instruments.

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

7. (Thomas Lawton, Chinese Art of the Warring States Period: Change and Continuity, 480--222  B.C. [Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1982], cat. no. 111) Of translucent cream nephrite with areas of opaque mottled tan, the archer's thumb ring is completely symmetrical, with the exception of the stylized foliate projection in the  upper right. Two concave planes, pierced by a small perforation, join to form a point over the central oval  aperture. Linked spirals modeled in low relief and arranged symmetrically on either side of the raised median  crest decorate the pointed shield shaped portion of the ring. On the highly polished surfaces are curvilinear  motifs, including a veined leaf at the apex of the front surface and elegantly intertwined bird with striated tail  accents on the back. 

The archer's ring is traditionally said to have been found at Shou chou [Shou xian] 壽縣, Anhui 安徽 province.

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

9. (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.

10. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, August 24, 2023) Title changed from "Archer's thumbring (ban zhi)" to "Pendant in the form of an archer’s thumbring with raised linked curls"; changed Object Name from "archer's thumbring" to "pendant"; Classification changed from "Tool and Equipment" to "Jewelry and Ornament"; Date changed from "ca. 5th-4th century BCE" to "471-221 BCE"; Geography Type Provenance added as"China, purportedly found at Anhui province, Shou xian"; and added Chinese caption by Jingmin Zhang.