Object: Finial in the form of a bird, probably reworked from a disk (bi 璧) S1987.532

Classification: Jewelry and Ornament

Historical period(s): Anyang period, Late Shang dynasty, ca. 1250-ca. 1050 BCE

Object Date: ca. 1250-ca. 1050 BCE

Medium: Jade (nephrite) imported from the northeast

Dimension(s): H x W x D: 7 × 3.8 × 0.2 cm (2 3/4 × 1 1/2 × 1/16 in)

Origin: China, probably Henan province, Anyang

Credit Line: Gift of Arthur M. Sackler

Collection: Arthur M. Sackler Collection

Accession Number: S1987.532

: 鳥形飾，似後期加工自璧
晚商安陽時期（公元前1250-1050年）
中國，疑似河南安陽市
軟玉
高6.8、寬3.8、厚0.2釐米
亞瑟·M·賽克勒贈送
器物編號: S1987.532

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
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 #403: "Bird-High cross Flat-grey green," 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: Profile bird pendant; incised; pierced in six places; edges notched; translucent gray-green. (Minor spotty calcification; cinnabar.)

Past label text: In Praise of Ancestors, September 28, 1987–January 5, 1989; by Thomas Lawton (shown with S1987.640, S1987.518, S1987.841, and S1987.519; additional Neolithic finials and Western Zhou 周 fittings shown in same case)

Pendant (Pei 珮)
13th–11th centuries BCE
Shang 商 dynasty
China
Jade

Curatorial Remarks

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

2. (Susan Kitsoulis per Keith Wilson, June 15, 2010) Title changed from "Pendant (Pei 珮): bird" to "Pendant in the form of a bird"; Object name from "Pendant: bird" to "Jewelry."

3. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, August 1, 2017) Title changed from "Pendant (pei) in the form of a bird" to "Fitting in the form of a bird, probably reworked from a disk (bi 璧)"; 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"; date changed from "ca. 13th-11th century BCE" to "ca. 1300-ca. 1050 BCE"; medium changed from "jade" to "Jade (nephrite)".

4. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, July 25, 2018) The following description added, "Profile bird pendant; incised; pierced in six places; edges notched; translucent gray-green. (Minor spotty calcification; cinnabar.)"; added Chinese translation by Jingmin Zhang; added past label text and unpublished research by Jenny F. So; changed title from "Fitting in the form of a bird, probably reworked from a disk (bi 璧)" to "Finial in the form of a bird, probably reworked from a disk (bi 璧)."
5. (YinYing Chen per Keith Wilson, February 21, 2023)
Change date from "ca. 1300-ca. 1050 BCE" to "ca. 1150 BCE."
Change date from "公元前1300-1050年" to "公元前1250-1050年" in the translation field.
Change medium from "Jade (nephrite)" to "Jade (nephrite) imported from the northeast."

Unpublished Research: Draft catalogue entry for S1987.532; by Jenny F. So (2003)

Bird-shaped fitting or finial
Shang 商 period, 1300--1100 BCE
Anyang 安陽
Nephrite, translucent yellowish-green
Height 6.8 cm; width 3.8cm
Former A. W. Bahr collection
Gift of Arthur M. Sackler
S1987.532

The shape of this bird-shaped fitting is so strongly arched that it almost describes a semi-circle. A delicate series of notches break the outline of its tall crest. Fine parallel intaglio lines, almost like hair, border these notches. The rest of the bird closely matches the previous examples--only its eye is a large circle without canthi. The tail feathers, separated from the clawed leg in the previous specimens, are now merged with it and crudely sketched in. The tang, ending in an unusually straight cut, may have been damaged and refinished. Three small holes pierce the crest; two more pierce the tang. The entire fitting is exceptionally thin, with a honed outer edge indicating that it might have been re-shaped from a broken ring rather than intentionally sliced as a slab like the foregoing examples.

A bird-shaped finial showing a crest like that on S1987.841 but in hairline thin parallel lines came from an early Western Zhou 周 tomb at Jiyang 濟陽 Liutaizi 劉臺子, Shandong 山東 province. [1] Its eye is also a large circle, but all its surface motifs are executed as incised lines. The lines [are] close together, and simply using single incised lines may serve to distinguish between Shang 商 from Zhou 周 workmanship.

[1] Zhang Xuehai 張學海, "Shilun Shandong diqu de Longshan wenhua cheng 試論山東地區的龍山文化城," Wenwu 文物 1996.12, color pl. 2:3.

Published References

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

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Finial in the form of a bird, probably reworked from a disk (bi 璧)

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