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

1. Bought from 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 design is, of course, based on the form of the oblate type of archer's thumb  ring (see F1939.23, F1939.24 and F1939.25), and in that connection the object may have retained a symbolic significance which added to its value as a piece of decoration. Worthy of remark, perhaps, is the fact that, whereas the marginal embellishments on the right seem to arise freely from the contour of the thumb ring form, those on the left seem to proceed toward the ring from an exterior, straight base line. This effect may best be seen when the ornament is stood up on its left edge, and suggests a possibility that the thing was meant to be mounted in a setting of some sort. The further fact that the reverse side is only partly finished may, perhaps, support this suggestion. In any case, while the ornamental aspect of a fine jade thumb ring may always have been appreciated, even by archers, this piece seems to be an early example of an ornament pure and simple-- though perhaps symbolic, too--elaborated from the thumb ring form. In it, that form is still essentially preserved; but in later examples, which are fairly common, the thumb ring element of the design becomes ever more subordinate to the added decorations. See, for example, Berthold 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, figs. 138--41; plates 24 and 30; and Alfred Salmony, Carved Jade of Ancient China (Berkeley, CA: Gillick Press, 1938), plates 64:2, 65:1. Laufer's plates, as above, apparently illustrate objects excavated, not long since, from Han 漢  dynasty graves of women, and now owned by the Field Museum of Natural History; but his figures of similar objects, his nomenclature and much of his information are taken from Ku yu t'u p'u [Guyu tupu] 古玉圖譜 (Illustrated  Description of Ancient Jades) (Chapter 62, pp. 9--10; Chapter 65, pp. 1--2 and 5--12), an allegedly contemporary catalogue (ca. 1176) of the large collection of jades said to belong to the Sung [Song] 宋 Emperor Kao tsung 高宗 [Gaozong]  (1127--62). The compilers of this voluminous work classify the type of ornament in question among girdle  pendants (佩 p'ei [pei]), apply to it the specific term chueh [jue] 玦, and describe it--though in another connection  (op.cit, Chapter 64, p. 4, line 4)--as "an incomplete kind of pi [bi] 璧 with a gap in it," i.e., a  perforated disk or broad, flat ring (pi [bi] 璧; see, for example, F1939.14) out of which a narrow, diametrical section has been cut (see Wu Ta Ch'eng [Wu Dacheng] 吳大澂, Ku yu t'u k' uy utuu tu kao] 古玉圖考 (Shanghai: Tongwen shuju, 1889), Vol. II, p. 94, and Museum of Fine Art Bulletin 10 (1912), plate 17). Laufer's own contribution to the subject consists, briefly, in defining the character chueh [jue] 玦 and its homophone chueh [jue] 決 as, respectively, an "incomplete or half ring," and "to cut off, to slay; to pass sentence; to decide; to settle,"--thus explaining the fact that, in Chou [Zhou] 周 times anyway, the object called chueh [jue] 玦 was used as a symbol of banishment, on the one hand, and on the other, of "ability to decide all sorts of intricate questions and problems"  (op. cit., pp. 210--11). All this may be true enough as far as it goes; but Laufer seems to be puzzled by the obvious discrepancy between the chueh [jue] 玦 as depicted and the chueh [jue] 玦 as described in the Ku yu t'u p'u [Guyu tupu] 古玉圖譜, as well as by his belief that a symbolism known to have been attached to the chueh [jue] 玦 in Chou [Zhou] 周  times had been supplanted in the Han 漢 times by an entirely different symbolism. These difficulties he points out and discusses (op. cit., p. 217); but he can dispose of them no more satisfactorily than by saying  (loc. cit.): "It is useless to raise here a question of terminology, and argue that these ornaments  differ from the ancient half rings and may have developed from another type which may have even existed in the  Chou [Zhou] 周 period under a different name. This may be true, but the brutal fact remains that the long series of these objects is designated chueh [jue] 玦 by the native archaeologists, and that in some of them the type, and above all, the designs of the chueh [jue] 玦--and these are presumably the oldest in the group of the new chueh [jue] 玦--have been faithfully preserved."

Probably the earliest references to the chueh [jue] 玦 as a symbol of princely displeasure and distrust occur in the Tso Chuan [Zuo Zhuan] 左傳 and form an important part of the long story (see, for example, James Legge, The Chinese  Classics, Vol. V, Part. 1, p. 113, line 3ff., and p. 127, line 7 ff.) about Hsien [Xian] 獻, Duke of Chin [Jin] 晋 (676--652  BCE), who, at the instigation of the favorite concubine, Li Chi [Li Ji] 驪姬, banished his three sons to the frontiers of the State. His eldest son and heir, Shen Sheng 申生, was sent in mid winter at the head of a military expedition against the Kao lo [Gaoluo] 皋落 tribe in the eastern hills (in Shansi [Shanxi] 山西), and when the young Prince took command of the army, "the Duke clothed him in a parti colored garment and hung a metal chueh [jue] 玦 at his girdle." Such proceedings of the Duke's part excited much comment among the retainers of Shen Sheng 申生. His charioteer, Hu Tu 狐突, sighed and said: 'The time of year is the test of the enterprise; the garment is the distinctive mark of the  person; the girdle pendant is the outer sign of the inner feeling. Therefore (the Duke), taking his (son's) enterprise seriously, would have ordered it as early as possible (i.e., before winter); dressing his person,  would have clothed him in a uniform color; making use of his fidelity, would have hung the appropriate emblem at his girdle. Giving the order now that the season is over, (the Duke) obstructs his (son's) enterprise; clothing him in a motley garment, he slights his (son's) person; hanging a metal chueh [jue] 玦 at the girdle, he rejects his (son's) fidelity. By the apparel, (the Duke) casts him off; by the season, he obstructs him; the motley is slighting; the winter is killing; the metal is cold; the chueh [jue] 玦 means dismissal: on what, then, can reliance be  placed?' . . . Han I 罕夷 (Shen Sheng 申生's second in command) said: 'The motley is strange and unusual; the metal  chueh [jue] 玦 means not to come back . . ." In all this stress is laid on the fact that the chueh [jue] 玦 was made of metal; but there is also sufficient evidence that any chueh [jue] 玦, in itself and irrespective of its material, was regarded as a thing of baleful significance. The whole story may well have been Laufer, for he quotes the gist of it at second hand from Conrady; but there is still  another--an only one other--reference to a chueh [jue] 玦 in the Tso Chuan [Zuo Zhuan] 左傳 (Legge, op. cit., p. 126, lines 14--15), and to this Laufer does not call attention. In giving an account of the invasion of the Wei 衛  State by the barbarous Ti [Di] 狄 Tribe during the reign of Duke I 懿 (ca. 668 660 BCE), the Chuan [Zhuan] 傳 says: "The Duke gave to his officer Shih Ch'I [Shi Qi] 石祁 a chueh [jue] 玦, and to his officer Ning Chuang [Ning Zhuang] 甯莊  an arrow, commissioning them as Prefects and saying: 'With these, help our State: decide what is advantageous and put it into effect." Now, although commentators and translators are little vague regarding the exact form of  the chueh [jue] 玦 (for example, Legge, op. cit., p. 129 and 130: "semicircle," "imperfect circle;" Seraphin Couvreur, Tch'ouen Ts'iou et Tso Tchouan (He Kien Fou: Imprimerie de la Mission catholique, 1914), Vol. 1, p. 218, 224, 225: "demi cercle ou cercle ouvert,  imparfait"), they appear to agree that it was one and the same in each of these two cases, the necessary  inference being that, while in the Chin [Jin] 晉 the chueh [jue] 玦 was symbolic of princely distrust, at the same time--and  just across the border in Wei 衛--it was symbolic of princely confidence. It is clear, however, that in China of the 7th century BCE these emblematic girdle pendants were regarded, both by the Prince who bestowed them and  by the subject who received them, as things of important significance, and it is, therefore, difficult to believe that  two such different interpretations can have been attached to the same sort of emblem in the two neighboring and  contemporary States. Certainly, in any case, evidence seeming to necessitate so unreasonable a conclusion  cannot be understandingly accepted or rejected on such a basis as Laufer's dictum about a "brutal fact." All that  is really necessary is to bear in mind that, in addition to meaning "a ring with a gap in it," the character chueh [jue] 玦, like several of its homophones (抉, 決), means, also, "an archer's thumb ring," and the  problem will be solved. In conformity with this relatively benign fact, at all events, the translations given above  may be completed to mean that whereas, on the one hand, Duke Hsien [Xian] 獻 of Chin [Jin] 晉 clothed his son Shen Sheng 申生, "in a parti colored garment, and hung a metal ring with a gap in it (玦) at his girdle" to express distrust, on the other hand, Duke I 懿 of Wei 衛 "gave to his officer Shih Ch'i [Shi Qi] 石祁 an archer's thumb ring (玦), and to his  officer Ning Chuang [Ning Zhuang] 甯莊 an arrow" to express confidence. Furthermore, it will at once be seen that the jade ornaments, of which Laufer disposes so arbitrarily, are called chueh [jue] 玦, not because they have even been connected or confused with the sinister incomplete ring, but because their form is based on that of the archer's thumb ring.

3. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Sp. G. is 3.001. Nephrite.

4. (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 this class of objects to be plectrums for stringed instruments.

5. (Undated Folder Sheet note) See F1939.23.

6. (Thomas Lawton, Chinese Art of the Warring States Period: Change and Continuity, 480--222 B.C. [Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1982], cat. no. 93) The surface of the grayish, translucent nephrite has some chalky opaque areas. One face of the ornament is decorated with relief and engraved motifs; the other is unfinished.

The shape of the ornament is based on the form of an archer's thumb ring (see cat. nos. 110--12, F1939.23--25) and, in that connection, the ornament may have retained a symbolic significance that increased its value as a piece of decoration. While the marginal embellishments on the right seem to arise feely from the contour of the thumb  ring form, those on the left appear to be confined by an exterior, straight base line. It has been proposed that the  ornament may have been meant to be mounted in a setting, a suggestion that is further supported by the fact that  the reverse side unfinished and unpolished.

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

The Freer ornament can be seen as a transitional form between an archer's thumb ring of the Warring States period and a type of pendant that had evolved from the Eastern Han 漢. Hayashi Minao 林巳奈夫 discusses this development. After reviewing the circumstances of several archaeological finds in which jade pendants were unearthed near jade disks and seals and bronze mirrors and daggers, Hayashi 林巳 suggests that the term chueh [jue] 玦 should be applied to  Han 漢 dynasty pendants rather than to jade earrings, as is usually done. [1] In addition to the examples cited by  Hayashi, two fine pieces were unearthed in a Western Han 漢 tomb at Hsiao kuei shan [Xiaoguishan] 小龜山, T'ung shan [Tongshan] 銅山, Kiangsu [Jiangsu] 江蘇  province. [2]

[1] Hayashi Minao 林巳奈夫, "Haigyoku to ju 佩玉と綬," Tōhō gakuhō 東方學報 45 (1973), pp. 16--20.

[2] Nanjing bowuyuan 南京博物院, "Tongshan Xiaoguishan Xihan yadong mu 銅山小龜山西漢崖洞墓," wenwu 文物 1973.4, p. 24, p. 34, fig. 8:10, pp. 43--44.

7. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, July 1, 2008) "Jewelry" 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, August 23, 2023) Title changed from "Archer's thumbring (ban zhi)" to "Pendant in the form of an archer’s thumbring with incised linked curls"; Object Name changed from "Archer's thumbring" to "Pendant"; Date changed from "ca. 4th-3rd century BCE" to "475-221 BC"; Geography Provenance Type added as "Shou xian, purportedly found at Anhui province, China"; changed Classification from "Tool and Equipment" to "Jewelry and Ornament"; and added Chinese caption by Jingmin Zhang.