Object: Pendant in the form of an archer’s thumbring with raised linked curls F1939.24

Classification: Jewelry and Ornament

Historical period(s): Warring States period, Eastern Zhou dynasty, 475-221 BCE

Object Date: 475-221 BCE

Medium: Jade (nephrite)

Dimension(s): H x W x D: 4.6 × 2.7 × 1.5 cm (1 13/16 × 1 1/16 × 9/16 in)

Credit Line: Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

Collection: Freer Gallery of Art Collection

Accession Number: F1939.24

: 凸面連體谷紋扳指形佩
東周戰國時期（公元前475-221年）
中國，傳安徽壽縣出土
軟玉
高1.5、寬7.2、厚0.5釐米
查爾斯·蘭·佛利爾基金捐購
器物編號：F1939.24

Provenance: 1931–1932
Purportedly 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 February 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 [Anyang], 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,” 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: Translucent greenish gray nephrite with small areas of brown; incised decorations including a bird; one hole for suspension.

Past label text: 1. Ancient Chinese Jade, September 4, 1980–March 6, 1981; by Julia K. Murray (shown with F1939.23, F1939.25, and F1939.26)

These ornamental rings (F1939.23 – F1939.26) are based on the shape of the thumb rings used by archers to improve their aim. Jade examples have been found in Eastern Chou [Zhou] 周 tombs at Chung Chou lu [Zhongzhoulu] 中州路, near Loyang [Luoyang] 洛陽, Honan [Henan] 河南, and in the tomb of the Marquis of Ts’ai [Cai] 蔡 at Shou hsien [Shou xian] 壽縣, Anhui 安徽. The earliest type (F1939.24) displays a convex surface, curvilinear projection, and concave top with tiny perforations. The shape gradually became flattened (F1939.26), and jade thumb rings started to be used as pendants instead of rings.

The surface decoration on these rings consists of relief spirals and finely incised motifs, the latter appearing on the back and sides of the rings. The projecting element on F1939.25 takes the form of an elegant bird standing on one leg.

All four thumb rings are traditionally said to have come from Shou chou [Shou xian] 壽縣, Anhui 安徽.

Curatorial Remarks

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 Folders F1939.6, Paragraph 2, and F1939.23, Paragraphs 3 and 4.
3. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Since the bore is too small to permit of this ring being worn on the thumb, a reasonable supposition seems to be that it was made for burial with the dead, or even for use by the living, as an ornament--perhaps symbolic.
4. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Specific gravity (weight) is 2.979. 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. The object is probably a plectrum for a stringed instrument.
6. (Undated Folder Sheet note) See F1939.23.
7. (Thomas Lawton, Chinese Art of the Warring States Period: Change and Continuity, 480--222 B.C. [Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1982], cat. no. 110) The oval shape of the piece is interrupted on the upper portion by two concave planes that form a point and an elegant curvilinear projection. The perforation, which occurs in the upper portion of the ring, is ovoid with a flattened segment at the bottom. Linked spirals modeled in low relief are incised on the shield shaped surface of the ring. The smoothly finished concave back surface is decorated with incised, abstract curvilinear decoration; at the center is a long tailed bird seen in profile. A small hole is drilled through the concave plane at the top of the ring. The surface of the piece is highly polished.
The Freer ring traditionally is said to have come from Shou chou [Shou xian] 壽縣, Anhui 安徽 province. While that provenance is not verifiable, it is reasonable. [1] Also to be considered are those objects published by William Charles White as coming from Chin ts'un [Jincun] 金村, Honan [Henan] 河南 province. White illustrates two jade and 1 bone archer's rings; he also mentions that several other rings were found at the site but does not illustrate them. [2] Umehara Sueji 梅原末治 in Rakuyō Kinson kobo shūei includes a thumb ring similar to the Freer example. [3] That thumb ring, now in the Fogg Museum, is discussed by Max Loehr.[4]
The earliest Chinese archer's thumb ring now extant was unearthed in the Shang 商 dynasty tomb 5 an Anyang 安陽, Honan [Henan] 河南 province, in 1975--76. An animal mask in low relief dominated the outer surface of that ring, with the stylized body of a fantastic creature curving around the remaining portions. [5] The sturdy proportions of the Anyang 安陽 thumb ring suggest that it was meant for actual use, while the small size of the aperture on the Freer rings indicates that the piece may have been purely ornamental. In 1955 one jade and 3 bone archer's rings of this general type were unearthed near the hands of skeletons in four separate tombs at the Chung chou lu [Zhongzhoulu] 中州路 site near Loyang [Luoyang] 洛陽, Honan [Henan] 河南 province. [6]
Several jade pieces very similar in shape and decoration to the Freer example have been described as musical picks. [7]
[1] See Orvar Karlbeck, "Selected Objects from Ancient Shou-chou," Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, no. 27 (1955), pp. 41--130, pl. 62. Salmony includes the Freer piece in Chinese Jade through the Wei Dynasty (New York: The Ronald Press Company, 1963), pl. 17:1.
[2] William Charles White, 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--39.
[3] 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.
[4] Max Loehr, Ancient Chinese Jades from the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection in the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University (Cambridge, MA: Fogg Art Museum, Havard University, 1975), p. 309, no. 452.
[5] Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu yanjiusuo 中國社會科學院考古研究所, Yinxu Fu Hao mu 殷墟婦好墓 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1980), pp. 194--95, figs. 97a--b, pl. 164:3--4.
[6] Zhongguo kexueyuan kaogu yanjiusuo 中國科學院考古研究所, Luoyang Zhongzhoulu 洛陽中州路 (Beijing: Kexue chubanshe, 1959), pp. 115--24, figs. 82:8, 98:7, pls. 72:4, 80:10.
[7] An Exhibition of Chinese Archaic Jades, Arranged for Norton Gallery of Art, West Palm Beach, Florida, January 20 to March 1, 1950 (New York: C. T. Loo, Inc., 1950), pl. 49: 1, 3, 6--8.
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 23, 2023) Title changed from "Archer's thumbring (ban zhi)" to "Pendant in the form of an archer’s thumbring with raised linked curls"; Classification changed from "Tool and Equipment" to "Jewelry and Ornament"; Date changed from "ca. 5th-4th century BCE" to "475-221 BCE"; Geography Type Provenance added as "China, purportedly found at Anhui province, Shou xian"; Object Name changed from "Archer's thumbring" to "Pendant".

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

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