Pendant in the form of a fish

1. Original Folder Sheet note indicates name of source and location at date of acquisition. Source address listed in this record is most current.

Received as a gift from William S. Weedon, Charlottesville, Virginia, when exhibited.
 
2. (Julia K. Murray, 1983) A substantial number of jade fish in various shapes have been excavated from archaeological sites of the Shang and Western Chou [Zhou] 周 periods, the earliest examples being found at Cheng-chou [Zhengzhou] 鄭州 (Honan sheng wen-hua-chu wen-wu kung-tso-tui ti-i-tui [Henan sheng wenhuaju wenwu gongzuodui diyidui] 河南省文化局文物工作隊第一隊, "Cheng-chou Shang-tai i-chih te fa-chueh [Zhengzhou Shangdai yizhi de fajue] 鄭州商代遺址的發掘," K'ao-ku hsueh-pao [Kaogu xuebao] 考古學報 1957.1, pl. 4: 2). Most jade fish have a perforation through the head, suggesting that they were worn as pendant ornaments or amulets. Fish pendants found at late Shang 商 sites tend to be much smaller than this example; there are also differences in contour and surface ornament. (For a representative selection, which came from the tomb of Fu Hao 婦好 at Anyang 安陽, see Chung-kuo she-hui k'e-hsueh-yuan k'ao-ku yen-chiu-suo [Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu yanjiusuo] 中國社會科學院考古研究所, Yin-hsu Fu Hao mu [Yinxu Fu Hao mu] 殷墟婦好墓 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1980), pp. 145, 171--172; color pls. 20, 30; and monochrome pls. 121, 146.)

The present piece most closely resembles a fish (161: 3) found in an early Western Chou [Zhou] 周 tomb at Chang-chia-p'o [Zhangjiapo] 張家坡, Feng-hsi [Fengxi] 灃西 in Shensi [Shaanxi] 陝西 province (Chung-kuo k'e-hsueh-yuan k'ao-ku yen-chiu-suo [Zhongguo kexueyuan kaogu yanjiusuo] 中國科學院考古研究所, Feng-hsi fa-chueh pao-kao [Fengxi fajue baogao] 灃西發掘報告 [Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1962], pl. 84: 12). The excavated fish, though smaller, exhibits the same configuration--enlarged snout, large eye, bifurcated tail with a slight curve, and a generally straight and flat body. A fish pendant in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, while somewhat thinner than the Freer's fish, belongs to the same type and is about the same length. It has been published as Western Chou [Zhou] 周 (Arts Council of Great Britain, Chinese Jade throughout the Ages [London: Oriental Ceramic Society, 1975], cat. 73).

3. (Jenny F. So, September 13, 1995) Period changed from "Early Western Zhou 周" to "Western Zhou 周."
 
4. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, July 1, 2008) Jewelry added as secondary classification.
 
5. (Susan Kitsoulis per Keith Wilson, June 23, 2010) Title changed from "Pendant: fish" to "Pendant in the form of a fish." Object name changed from "Pendant: fish" to "Jewelry."

6. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, May 4, 2018) Object name changed from "jewelry" to "pendant"; period one changed from "Western Zhou dynasty" to "Late Shang dynasty"; period two added "Anyang period"; geography changed from "China" to "China, probably Henan province, Anyang"; date changed from "ca. 11th-9th century BCE" to "ca. 1300-ca. 1050 BCE"; and added Chinese object caption by Jingmin Zhang.