Jades for Life and Death

Classification: Ceremonial Object

Historical period(s): Anyang period, Late Shang dynasty, ca. 1300-ca. 1050 BCE

Object Date: ca. 1300-ca. 1050 BCE

Medium: Jade (nephrite)

Dimension(s): H x W x D: 13.3 x 2.3 x 0.6 cm (5 1/4 x 7/8 x 1/4 in)

Origin: China, probably Henan province, Anyang

Credit Line: Gift of Arthur M. Sackler

Collection: Arthur M. Sackler Collection

Accession Number: S1987.492

: 柄形器
晚商安陽時期（公元前1300--1050年）
中國，疑似河南安陽市
軟玉
高13.3、寬2.3、厚0.6釐米
亞瑟·M·賽克勒贈送
器物編號：S1987.492

Provenance: To 1959
Abel William Bahr (1877-1959), Shanghai, China, London, England, Montreal, Canada, New York, NY, and Ridgefield, Connecticut [1]

From 1959 to 1963
Edna H. Bahr (d. 1978), by descent from her father, Abel William Bahr

From 1963 to 1987
Dr. Arthur M. Sackler, New York, purchased from Edna H. Bahr in 1963 [2]

From 1987
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, gift of Dr. Arthur M. Sackler on September 11, 1987 [3]

Notes:

[1] According to information provided by the Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, October 9, 2009.

[2] See #280: "lustrous," on list provided by the Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, October 9, 2009, copy in object file.

[3] Pursuant to the agreement between Dr. Arthur M. Sackler and the Smithsonian Institution, dated July 28, 1982, legal title of the donated objects was transferred to the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery on September 11, 1987.

Previous owner(s): Abel William Bahr (1877-1959)
Edna H. Bahr (1907-1986)
Dr. Arthur M. Sackler (1913-1987)

Description: Handle with carved ridges; creamy opaque white coloration. (Totally calcified; chips on point; minor deposits, cinnabar.)

Past label text: 1. In Praise of Ancestors, September 28, 1987–January 5, 1989; by Thomas Lawton (shown with S1987.838, S1987.496, S1987.671, and additional Zhou 周 dynasty tablets)

Handle (Bing 柄)
12th–11th centuries BCE
Shang 商 dynasty
China
Jade

Curatorial Remarks

1. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, July 17, 2008) Ceremonial object added as secondary classification.

2. (Susan Kitsoulis per Keith Wilson, April 20, 2010) Object Name changed from "Handle" to "Ceremonial object." Title changed from "Handle [bing] 柄" to "Ancestor tablet."

3. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, August 3, 2017) Object name changed from "Ceremonial object" to "Tablet"; period one changed from "Shang dynasty" to "Late Shang dynasty"; period two added "Anyang period"; geography changed from "China" to "China, probably Henan province, Anyang"; medium changed from "Jade" to "Jade (nephrite)"; date changed from "ca. 12th-11th century BCE" to "ca. 1300-ca. 1050 BCE".

4. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, December 12, 2018) Added Chinese translation by Jingmin Zhang; added the following description, "Handle with carved ridges; creamy opaque white coloration. (Totally calcified; chips on point; minor deposits, cinnabar.)"; and past lable text by Thomas Lawton.

Published References

J. Keith Wilson, Jingmin Zhang. Jades for Life and Death. .

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Ancestor tablet

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