Pendant with dragon heads, spirals, and raised uniform curls arranged in a grid

1. Bought through C. T. Loo and Company, New York, NY, 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 Sheet F1939.6, Paragraph 2.

3. (Undated Folder Sheet note) The suspension hole was evidently drilled when the decorative carving had been finished, perhaps even  later; but it indicated, in any case, that the ornament was made or adapted for use as a pendant--if not to be worn by the living because of its obvious fragility, then for burial with the dead.

The approximately semicircular types of jades, very much like this one in form, are described and illustrated by Wu Ta ch'eng [Wu Dacheng] 吳大澂 in Ku-yu t'u k'ao [Guyu tu kao] 古玉圖考 (Shanghai: Tongwen shuju, 1889), vol. II, pp. 76--78 and 88--90: one of them he calls huang 璜, the other heng 珩. The text of Chou Li [Zhou Li] 周禮 speaks of the huang 璜 as a ritual object used in paying homage to the North, and the Commentary described it as a half pi [bi] 璧; see, F1939.14 and F1939.15). Other references to the huang 璜 in, for example, Tso Chuan [Zuo zhuan] 左傳  and Li Chi [Li Ji] 禮記 throw no further light upon it. The heng 珩, according to Wu 吳, was the top member of a  composite pendant ornament--the cross piece, so to speak, from which other members of the ornament were suspended (see Berthold Laufer, Jade: A Study in Chinese Archaeology and Religion [Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History, 1912], p. 198). One of the members is called a huang 璜, but Wu 吳 designated it more specifically as pei huang 佩璜 and says it is not the same as the huang 璜 mentioned in the Chou Li [Zhou Li] 周禮. However, it is  not clear whether our piece should be classified as a huang 璜 or a heng 珩, although it more nearly resembles one of the heng 珩 illustrated by Wu 吳 (op. cit., p. 91) and is quite comparable with F1932.38. The pei huang 佩璜, on the other hand, as illustrated by Wu 吳 (op. cit., p. 92--93) and represented by our F1916.146 and F1931.15, are smaller and less nearly semicircular.

3. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Sp. G. is 2.951. Surface alteration by decomposition and mending prevent an accurate calculation for nephrite.

4. (Elisabeth West Fitzhugh, 1959) The white alteration product was identified as nephrite by X ray diffraction (Film F870).

5. (William B. Trousdale, 1964) Late Eastern Chou [Zhou] 周, or Warring States period. A piece of highest quality from this period. The Shou-chou [Shou xian 壽縣] provenance is unverifiable, but reasonable.

6. (Thomas Lawton, Chinese Art of the Warring States Period: Change and Continuity, 480-222  B.C. [Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1982], cat. no. 86) Monster masks appear in profile at either end of the crescent shaped pendant. Details of the masks, which include ears, eyes, and muzzles, are modeled in low relief; the contours of the mask provide some variation in the smooth, curving outline of the upper portion of the ornament and complement the symmetrical curvilinear openwork on the lower edge. Linear motifs further embellish the masks and foliate scrolls. Linked curls in lower relief decorate the central portion of the pendant. A small perforation in the center of the piece would have enabled it to be suspended. Alteration has turned the surface of the jade ornament a matte whitish color. The pendant was broken in half at the center and subsequently repaired.

The pendant traditionally is said to have been found at Shou chou [Shou xian 壽縣], Anhui 安徽 province. Some jade pieces associated with Shou chou [Shou xian 壽縣] are similar to the Freer ornament. [1] The ornament, however, is also stylistically related  to objects said to have come from the tombs at Chin ts'un [Jincun] 金村, near Loyang [Luoyang] 洛陽, Honan [Henan] 河南 province, leaving the provenance  of the Freer pendant open to further study. [2]

[1] Orvar Karlbeck, "Selected Objects from Ancient Shou-chou," Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities 27 (1955): pl. 62:1--3.

[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), pls. 124:309, 125.

7. (Stephen Allee as per Keith Wilson, June 23, 2008) As per Jenny F. So, Jade Project Database, changed Date from  "5th-4th century BCE" to "475-221 BCE." Added Previous Owner: Ex collection Zhang Naiqi, 1897-1977.  Changed Object Name from "Pendant: dragon" to "Jewelry"; changed Title from "Ornament (broken in halves and mended) of opaque, gray nephrite" to "Pendant with two dragon heads." Added Dimensions per Christine Lee,  from Jade Project Database. Added "Warring States period" to Period Two. Added "Reputedly Shou chou [Shou xian 壽縣], Anhui 安徽 province, probably Jincun 金村, Henan 河南 province" to Geographical Location, Origin.

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

9. (Stephen Allee, March 23, 2009) Added designation "nephrite" to Medium as per Janet Douglas using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (January 8, 2009).

10. (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.

11. (Susan Kitsoulis per Keith Wilson, May 24, 2010) Changed Object Name from "Pendant: dragon" to "Jewelry."

12. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, November 29, 2021) Added "Warring States period" in the Period Two field; Object Name changed from "Jewelry" to "Pendant"; Title changed from "Pendant with two dragon heads" to "Pendant with dragon heads, spirals, and raised uniform curls arranged in a grid"; Geography field changed from "Reputedly Shouzhou, Anhui province, probably Jincun, Henan province, China" to "China, probably Henan province, Jincun, but purportedly found at Anhui province, Shou xian"; and Chinese translation added.