Knife pendant in the form of a supernatural human

1. Bought from Spink and Son, Ltd., London. For price, see Freer Gallery of Art Purchase List after 1920.
 
2. (John Ellerton Lodge, 1942) This is a sort of hand fid or marline spike, of which there appear to have been two standard sizes known respectively as ta hsi [da xi] 大觹 "large spike" and hsiao hsi [xiao xi] 小觹 "small spike." In Li chi [Li ji] 禮記, or "Book of Rites" (see James Legge, "The Li Ki," Book X, in Sacred Books of the East, ed. F. Max Muller, vol. III [Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1885], pp. 449--50), it is said that young men and young women of good family carried a small spike suspended from the left side of the girdle, a large spike from the right. Earlier, in Shih ching [Shi jing] 詩經 (James Legge, The Chinese Classics [Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1893--95], Vol. IV, Part 1, p. 103), the finger of mild scorn is pointed at a mere boy, certainly less than nineteen years old, who swaggers along with such grown up appurtenances as a spike and an archer's thumb ring hung at his girdle. Drawings of jade spikes of both sizes are reproduced 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), pp. 106--107, and four others--more fanciful, perhaps and all of about the same shape and size--are illustrated in Lung Ta-yuan [Long Dayuan] 龍大淵, ed., Sung Ch'un-his chi-pien ku-yu t'u-p'u [Song Chunxi chibian guyu tupu] 宋淳熙敕編古玉圖譜 (Yangzhou: Jiangchun kangshan caotang, 1779), Chap. LVI, pp. 5--12. Wu 吳 does not date his examples; one of those in Ku-yu t'u-p'u [Guyu tupu] 古玉圖譜 is dated Ch'in [Qin 秦], one "pre-Han 漢," and two Han 漢,--why, is not obvious; but our present example must be earlier than any of them, although in general form it more nearly resembles the Ku-yu t'u-p'u [Guyu tupu] 古玉圖譜 examples than the broader, tusk shaped implements illustrated by Wu 吳. Similar to it in form are two jade objects,--one large, one small,--reproduced by Huang Chun [Huang Jun] 黄濬, in his Ku-yu t'u-lu ch'u-chi [Guyu tulu chuji] 古玉圖錄初集 (Beijing: Zunguzhai, 1939) (Vol. III, p. 26 verso); these are probably knot looseners, but like everything else in this publication they are left unidentified by the compiler. In Archaic Chinese Jades: Special Exhibition (Philadelphia: The University Museum, 1940), a considerable number of jade objects identified as "knot openers,"--sometimes mistakenly, I think,--have been very inadequately reproduced (see, e.g., Pls. I, II, V, VI, XIII, XIV, XV, XVI); and in Carved Jades of Ancient China (Berkeley, C.A.: Gillick Press, 1938), Pls. XII, XXIII, XXIV, XXV, Salmony has reproduced five examples as well as (Pl. LXIV, 4) an object classified as a "pendant" which may be, however, a large specimen of the type of hsi [xi] 觹 illustrated by Wu 吳. Paul Pelliot, in Jades Archaïques de Chine Appartenant a M. C. T. Loo (Paris et Bruxelles: G. van Oest, 1925), pl. XL: 9 has reproduced one example, and there may well be further examples in other publications; but those to which reference has already been made are enough to show the variety of forms. The sources quoted by Wu 吳 (loc. cit.) say that "the small hsi [xi] 觹 was used to loosen small knots, the large hsi [xi] 觹 to loosen large knots", and that these implements were made of ivory, bone, horn or jade; but I have never seen an ancient one made of any material other than jade. The long haired human figure which constitutes the handle of our present example is to be seen also on one of our early bronze weapons (F1934.4) and perhaps on another (F1934.3); Huang Chun [Huang Jun] 黄濬 (op. cit. Vol. III, p. 36), Salmony (op. cit. Pls. X: 1 and XXIX), Pelliot (op. cit. Pl. XXIX: 1) 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. XXVI: 11) each reproduce one or more jade carvings of this strange being; but who he is or what he symbolizes is not known. The traces of cinnabar adhering to our present example indicate that it was excavated from a human burial.
 
3. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Sp. G. is 2.981. Nephrite.
 
4. (Archibald Gibson Wenley, 1946) Shang 商 dynasty.
 
5. (William B. Trousdale, 1964) Shang 商 dynasty. The identification as a knot opener is unconfirmed.
 
6. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, July 1, 2008) Jewelry added as secondary classification.
 
7. (Susan Kitsoulis per Keith Wilson, May 6, 2010) Title changed from "Implement: A pointed implement for loosening knots" to "Pendant"; object name from "Pendant: Knife" to "Jewelry." Changed date from "1600--1050 BCE" to "13--11th century BCE." Added "with traces of cinnabar" to medium description.

8. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, May 4, 2018) Title changed from "pendant" to "Pendant in the form of a supernatural human"; period one changed from "Shang dynasty" to "Late Shang dynasty"; period two added "Anyang period"; date changed from "ca. 13th-11th century BCE" to "ca. 1300-ca. 1050 BCE"; geography changed from "China" to "China, probably Henan province, Anyang"; medium changed from "Jade with traces of cinnabar" to "jade (nephrite)"; object name changed from "jewelry" to "pendant"; and description changed from "Implement; a pointed implement for loosening knots.  Somewhat translucent pale gray-green nephrite with pale tan mottling, carved in silhouette and counter-sunk linear relief.  Perforated for suspension." to "Implement: a pointed implement for loosening knots. Somewhat translucent pale gray green nephrite with pale tan mottling, carved in silhouette and counter sunk linear relief. Perforated for suspension."

9. (YinYing Chen per Keith Wilson, February 15, 2023)
Change title from "Pendant in the form of a supernatural human" to "Knife pendant in the form of a supernatural human."
Change date from "ca. 1300-ca. 1050 BCE" to "ca. 1250-1050 BCE."
Change date from "公元前1300-1050年" to "公元前1250-1050年" in the translation field.