Object: Pendant in the form of a tiger S1987.705

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

: 虎形飾
晚商安陽時期（公元前1250-1050年）
中國，疑似河南安陽市
軟玉
高4.5、寬9.4、厚0.6釐米
亞瑟·M·賽克勒贈送
器物編號：S1987.705

Provenance: From at least 1930
Mrs. Christian R. Holmes (1871-1941), New York and "The Chimneys," Sands Point, Port Washington, Long Island, New York, from at least 1930 [1]

To 1987
Dr. Arthur M. Sackler (1913-1987), New York.

From 1987
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, gift of Dr. Arthur M. Sackler on September 11, 1987 [2]

Notes:

[1] According to Otto Kümmel, Jörg Trübner zum Gedächtnis: Ergebnisse seiner letzten chinesischen Reisen (Berlin, Klinkhardt & Biermann Verlag, 1930), p. 60, pl. 30e.

[2] 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): Mrs. Christian R. Holmes (1871-1941)
Dr. Arthur M. Sackler (1913-1987)

Description: Pendant, profile animal; long tail raised to loop; few carved details; pierced; opaque tans. (Calcified; brown substance on surface; deposits of cinnabar.)

Past label text: 1. In Praise of Ancestors, September 28, 1987–January 5, 1989; by Thomas Lawton (shown with S1987.839, S1987.579, S1987.719, S1987.877, S1987.694, S1987.861, S1987.689, and S1987.864; additional pendants shown in same case)

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

2. (Keith Wilson, Anyang: China's Ancient City of Kings, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, February 25, 2023 to April 28, 2024)

The Royal Hunt
These late Anyang-period wine containers with matching inscriptions name an “Officer of the Hounds” in charge of one of the king’s hunting grounds and may have been commissioned and used by the same individual. Oracle bone inscriptions tell us these officers were responsible for assisting with the king’s
hunts. Royal hunts involved chariots but not always successfully.One famous divination recounts the toppling of the king’s chariot by another officer during the pursuit of wild buffalo. Along with other unsurprising quarry like deer and boar, the king’s hunt also sometimes included elephants and tigers. The hunt probably involved bow and arrow—in Shang writing, there are depictions of tigers with arrows in their heads—and perhaps this mysterious pointed weapon or tool with a hook; maybe part of a whip, it is sometimes found with chariotry equipment in elite tombs.

Pendants in the form of a tiger
Anyang period,
ca. 1250–1050 BCE
Jade (nephrite)
Gift of Arthur M. Sackler S1987.705 and S1987.553

Curatorial Remarks

Published References

J. Keith Wilson, Jingmin Zhang. Jades for Life and Death. .
Otto Kümmel. Jörg Trübner zum Gedächtnis: Ergebnisse seiner letzten chinesischen Reisen. Berlin. p. 60, pl. 30e.

CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0): This image is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

Pendant in the form of a tiger