Pendant in the form of pairs of dragons and birds with raised linked curls

1. Bought through C. T. Loo and Company, 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 Sheet F1939.6, Paragraph 2.  The suspension holes are drilled through the edges of the dragon's crests, and show that the ornament was used as a pendant. It should, perhaps, be classified as a lung [long] 龍, although it is much smaller than those 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. 85--86. According to the Shuo Wen [Shuowen jiezi] 說文解字, the jade lung [long] 龍 was used to invoke rain. The largest one described by Wu 吳 (op. cit., p. 86) appears to be of about the same coloring as our piece.

3. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Sp. G. is 2.968. 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. In the center of the narrow, curved slits at each side are indications of round boring  from which the slits were filed out to either side. The surfaces are ornamented with incised lines and small, round comma shaped and knob grains, joined in various combination by short, curved, incised lines. A piece of superb design and highest quality workmanship.

5. (Thomas Lawton, Chinese Art of the Warring States Period: Change and Continuity, 480-222  B.C. [Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1982], cat. no. 83) A pair of addorsed felines grasping curling ruffs in their open mouths appears at the top of the composition. Their bodies arch outward to form an open ring; on either side a single leg with musculature rendered in low relief is bent inside the ring. The transition from the sleek stylized feline heads to the purely abstract, geometric ring is made less abrupt by narrow concave bands that follow the outer edges of the ring and then overlap the surface, which is ornamented with linked spirals modeled in low relief. Within the ring the overlapping bands end in T shaped curls that complement the reticulated pattern stated by the feline paws. These T shaped motifs are echoed in the reticulated designs formed by the feline jaws.

Suspension holes drilled through the edges of the feline crests indicate that the ornament was used as a pendant. Both surfaces of the ornament are highly polished. Two breaks on the necks of the felines have been repaired. [1]

The ornament traditionally is said to have come from Shou chou [Shou xian 壽縣], Anhui 安徽 province. Although that provenance is reasonable, the identification of comparable jade pieces said to have been found at Chin ts'un [Jincun] 金村, near Lo yang [Luoyang] 洛陽, Honan [Henan] 河南 province, raises the possibility of an alternate site. [2]

[1] For a brief discussion of the Freer jade, see Alfred Salmony, Chinese Jade through the Wei Dynasty (New York: Ronald Press, 1963), pl. 24:2.

[2] Umehara Sueji 梅原末治, Rakuyō Kinson kobo shūei 洛陽金村古墓聚 (Kyoto: Kobayashi shashin seihanjo shuppanbu, 1937), pls. 84:3, 85:4, 5.

6. (Stephen Allee 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 "Ring" to "Jewelry"; changed Title from "Open ring ornament" to "Pendant in the form of an open ring with two dragon heads." Added Dimensions per Christine Lee, from Jade Project Database. Added "Warring States period" to Period Two. Added "Reputedly Shouzhou [Shou xian] 壽縣, Anhui 安徽 province, probably Jincun 金村,  Henan 河南 province" to Geographical Location, Origin.

7. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, July 17, 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. (Susan Kitsoulis per Keith Wilson, July 8, 2010) Object Name changed from "Pendant" to "Jewelry."

10. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, January 18, 2022) Object Name changed from "Jewelry" to "Pendant"; Title changed from "Pendant in the form of an open ring with two dragon heads" to "Pendant in the form of pairs of dragons and birds with raised linked curls"; Geography changed from "reputedly Shouzhou, Anhui province, probably Jincun, Henan province" to "China, probably Henan province, Jincun, but puportedly found at Anhui province, Shou xian"; and added Chinese caption.