Object: Disk (bi) with raised hexagons arranged in a grid S1987.594

Classification: Ceremonial Object

Historical period(s): Warring States period, Eastern Zhou or Western Han dynasty, 475-100 BCE

Object Date: 475-100 BCE

Medium: Jade (nephrite)

Dimension(s): Diam x D: 13.7 × 0.4 cm (5 3/8 × 3/16 in) Diam (hole): 4.2 cm (1 5/8 in)

Origin: China, purportedly found at Anhui province, Shou xian

Credit Line: Gift of Arthur M. Sackler

Collection: Arthur M. Sackler Collection

Accession Number: S1987.594

: 凸面網格蒲紋璧
東周戰國或西漢時期（公元前475-100年）
中國，傳安徽壽縣出土
軟玉
直徑13.7、厚0.4釐米；孔徑4.2釐米
亞瑟·M·賽克勒贈送
器物編號：S1987.594

Provenance: 1931 to 1932
Likely discovered in tomb located in Shou xian, Anhui province, China [1]

To 1948
Zhang Naiji (1899–1948), Shanghai, China, then New York, NY [2]

1948 to 1954
Zhang Mei Chien (1901–ca. 1955), New York, NY, inherited upon her husband’s death [3]

1954 to 1963
J. T. Tai and Company, New York, NY, purchased from Zhang Mei Chien in July 1954 in New York, NY [4]

1963 to 1987
Dr. Arthur M. Sackler, New York, NY, purchased from J. T. Tai and Company on May 15, 1963 [5]

From 1987
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, gift of Dr. Arthur M. Sackler on September 11, 1987 [6]

Notes:

[1] Object published in Archaic Chinese Jades: Special Exhibition, February 1940 (Philadelphia: The University Museum, 1940), cat. 36, pictured as 40 (typing error). Catalogue entry notes discovery site as Shou hsien (now known as Shou xian), where tombs were exposed between 1931 and 1932. During this period the tombs were never properly excavated.

[2] Zhang Naiji (also known as N. C. Chang) was a businessman, born to a prestigious family in Zhejiang that made their wealth in the silk and salt industries. He collected ancient Chinese art objects and Chinese coins. Zhang amassed his collection whilst living in Shanghai, before leaving for America in 1938, and acquired his objects onsite of archeological excavations (see Alfred Salmony, Chinese Jade through the Wei Dynasty [New York: The Ronald Press Company, 1963], p.115).

Zhang lent his collection anonymously to Archaic Chinese Jades: Special Exhibition. We know his identity through letters housed in the Department of Archives, The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (see letter from C. T. Loo to Horace Jayne, October 25, 1939, and letter from C. T. Loo to Horace Jayne, December 16, 1939), copies in Freer and Sackler COM provenance files. The exhibition was entirely organized by C. T. Loo and Company, New York. Letters exchanged between C. T. Loo and the director of The University Museum, Mr. Horace H. F. Jayne, reveal that Zhang Naiji owned the objects and C. T. Loo and Company had the collection on consignment (see letter from C. T. Loo to Horace Jayne, May 28, 1939, and letter from C. T. Loo to Horace Jayne, October 23, 1940, copies on COM provenance files). C. T. Loo and Company kept the jade collection on consignment from 1940 through Zhang’s death in 1948, inventorying the pieces with a prefix “J” and labeling each item as “Chang [Zhang] Collection.”

[3] Zhang Mei Chien, Zhang Naiji’s wife, assumed ownership upon his death in 1948. She sold several pieces from her husband’s collection to J. T. Tai and Company in July 1954 (for example, see J. T. Tai and Company Stock Record YT 886 and YT 895, copies in COM provenance files).

[4] J. T. Tai and Company, New York, stock record: YT 589: “1 Jade Piece,” see invoice from J. T. Tai to Arthur M. Sackler, dated May 15, 1963, and located in object file.

[5] See note 4.

[6] 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): C.T. Loo & Company (1914-1948)
Zhang Naiji 張乃驥 (1899-1948)
Zhang Mei Chien (1900-1998)
J. T. Tai & Co. (established in 1950)
Dr. Arthur M. Sackler (1913-1987)

Curatorial Remarks

1. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, July 8, 2008) "Ceremonial Object" added as secondary classification.
2. (Stephen Allee, March 25, 2009) As per Jenny F. So, Jade Project Database, changed Period One from "Han 漢 dynasty" to "Late Eastern Zhou 周 or Western Han 漢 dynasty"; changed Date from "3rd-1st centuries BCE" to "475--100 BCE"; and added Description. As per Keith Wilson, changed Title from "Ritual disk, Bi 璧" to "Disk (bi 璧) with knobs"; changed Object Name from "Disk (bi 璧)" to "Ceremonial object"; and added "Warring States period" to Period Two. Changed Medium "Jade" to "Jade (?)," as no scientific analysis is recorded. Added Measurements (Diam x D: 13.7 x 0.4; Diam [hole]: 4.2), as per Christine Lee, Jade Project Database.
3. (Jeffrey Smith per Matthew Clarke, July 25, 2022) Medium changed from Jade to Jade (nephrite).
4. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, June 6, 2023) Title changed from "Disk (bi) with knobs" to "Disk (bi) with raised hexagons arranged in a grid"; changed Period One from "Late Eastern Zhou or Western Han dynasty" to "Eastern Zhou or Western Han dynasty"; Geography changed from "China" to "China, purportedly found at Anhui province, Shou xian"; and added Chinese Translation by Jingmin Zhang.

Published References: Published References are currently unavailable.

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