Tubular head ornament

• 1. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Essentially the same as S1987.626, this example differs only in the slant of the upper rim, which is much greater. The polish and finish is the same but the upper rim is ragged and somewhat damaged.

  The date and function of such large tubes of smoothly ground jade have for a long time been only matters for speculation. Now, excavations carried out between 1983 and 1985 in Liaoning 遼寧 province have finally thrown some light on these intriguing objects. Stone-slab graves opened at Niuheliang 牛河梁 in Liaoning 遼寧 revealed similar jade tubes supporting the skull bones of the buried like a pillow (Liaoning sheng wenwu kaogu yanjiusuo 遼寧省文物考古研究所, "Liaoning Niuheliang Hongshan wenhua 'nushen miao' yu jishizhong qun fajue jianbao 遼寧牛河梁紅山文化'女神廟'與積石冢群發掘簡報," Wenwu 文物 1986.8, color plate 2:3; p. 13, fig. 20:1). At least two were found in exactly the same position in the graves; they vary only in height, from about eighteen centimeters to eleven centimeters. Preliminary examinations of the artifacts at this site associate the burials with the Hongshan 紅山 culture in the area dating from about the third millennium BCE. It is likely that the present two examples came from a similar context and period.

  2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) A number of jade pieces of this unusual shape are in Western collections: their function and dates have been uncertain. The following list includes those pieces currently known or published:

  1) Brundage Collection (B60J226). Ren&‌eacute;-Yvon Lefebvre d'Argenc&‌eacute;, Chinese Jades in the Avery Brundage Collection: A selection of religious symbols, insignia of rank, ceremonial weapons, pendants, ornaments, figurines, miniature mountains and containers from the Neolithic period to modern times (San Francisco: de Young Museum Society and Patrons of Art and Music for the Center of Asian Art and Culture, 1972), pl. XVIII. Identified as an oval tube, possibly a hair ornament. Dated to the Warring States or Western Han 漢 period (5th--1st century BCE).

  2) Buffalo Museum of Science. Joan Marcia Hartman, Ancient Chinese Jades from the Buffalo Museum of Science (New York: China Institute in America, 1975), no. 81. Identified as headdress ornament (?) and dated Western Zhou 周 or later.

  3) Von Oertzen Collection. S. Howard Hansford, Jade: Essence of Hills and Streams: the Von Oertzen Collection of Chinese and Indian Jades (London: Purnell and Sons, 1969), p. 103, no. C26. "It has been called a hair-ornament and a grain scoop." Included in the group of bronzes assigned by Hansford to "Han 漢 to Ming 明 period, 202 BCE--1644 AD."

  4) Field Museum of Natural History. Abel William Bahr Collection. Stanley Charles Nott, Chinese Jade throughout the Ages: A Review of its Characteristics, Decoration, Folklore and Symbolism (London: B. T. Batsford, 1936), pl. XV:2.

  5) Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Pillsbury Collection (50.46.305). Na Zhiliang, Chinese Jades: Archaic and Modern from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (Rutland, VT: C. E. Tuttle, 1977), p. 96, no. 97. "It is possible that the tube served as a ceremonial cuff bracelet." Dated to Early Eastern Zhou 周.

  6) Sackler Museum, Harvard University. Winthrop Collection (1943.50.627, 1943.50.628). Max Loehr, Ancient Chinese Jades from the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection in the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University (Cambridge, MA: Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, 1975), pp. 216--17, nos. 323--24. Identified as ceremonial cuffs (?) and dated to Western Zhou 周 (?).

  Some of the uncertainties about the date of these enigmatic objects were resolved by the discovery of a jade piece of the same type in western Liaoning 遼寧 province. Preliminary information about this find is provided in an article by Sun Shoudao 孫守道 and Guo Dashun 郭大順, "Lun Liaohe liuyu de yuanshi wenming yu long de qiyuan 論遼河流域的原始文明與龍的起源," Wenwu 文物 1984.6, pp. 11--17. The specific jade object is illustrated in a line drawing in fig. 6 on p. 14, where it is identified as a "horse's hoof-shaped jade fillet." The two authors discuss briefly the jade object, unearthed at Niuheliang 牛河梁 (pp. 14--15), noting that seven similar jade pieces of approximately the same size are already known. The Niuheliang 牛河梁 jade piece is described as being blackish-green colored jade and measuring 16.4 cm high. It is tubular in shape, with the opening at one end being flat; the opening at the opposite being sloped. Jade of this type, according to the authors, have also been found at Aohan qi 敖漢旗 and Balinzuo qi 巴林左旗.

  The jade from Niuheliang 牛河梁 is one of some 100 pieces that have been identified as being representative of the Hongshan 紅山 culture and as dating from the late Neolithic period. On the basis of Carbon-14 dating, the Hongshan 紅山 culture has been assigned to the period ca. 5000 years from the present (i.e., ca. 3000 BCE). Those Hongshan 紅山 culture jades include a number of larger pieces, and the shapes are unusual, not being limited to the beads, huang 璜 and bi 璧 that are usually associated with the late Neolithic in China. Dragons, or shapes related to dragons, are a particular characteristic of Hongshan 紅山 culture jades.

  On the basis of the archaeological information regarding the jades found in Liaoning 遼寧 and dated to the late Neolithic period, the Sackler jade piece can also be assigned to the Hongshan 紅山 culture and dated ca. 3000 BCE.

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

  4. (Jeffrey Smith per Janet Douglas, June 17, 2010) Nephrite added as modifier to existing medium of "jade" based on conservation analysis.

  5. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, August 18, 2016) Period changed from "Neolithic period" to "Late Neolithic period"; title changed from "headdress" to "Tubular head ornament"; date change from "ca. 3000 BCE" to "ca. 3800--2700 BCE"; geography changed from "Liaoning province, China" to "Northeast China"; added curatorial remarks, description, and past label text.

Draft catalogue entry for S1987.842; by Jenny F. So (2003)

Tubular ornament with slanted top
Neolithic period, 4th or 3rd millennium BCE
Hongshan 紅山 culture, northeast China
Nephrite, muddy-green with brown and white patches
H 8.86--15.9 × W 6.34--7.38 (bottom) × 0.55--0.76 thick

One of two similar objects in the collection (see S1987.626), this tapering tubular shape with an oval section has its flared top sliced at an angle to form a sharply slanted scoop-like opening. Both upper and bottom rims are honed to an edge and both are jagged and nicked with signs of wear or damage. All surfaces are undecorated but smoothly polished. The inner surfaces show uneven thickness and curved score marks left by what might have been an unusual method used to create the large opening: by drilling a series of large openings the length of the tube and grinding smooth the ridges between the drillings with an abrasive-embedded cord. [1]

In contrast to toothed and scrolled pendants, many more examples of this type are known in collections as well as from excavations. Those in museum collections were acquired in the early decades of the twentieth century before excavated counterparts became available and were therefore often misdated and misunderstood. Examples can be from the collections of the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, [2] Field Museum of Chicago, [3] Minneapolis Institute of Arts, [4] Buffalo Museum of Science, [5] the Sackler Museum at Harvard University, [6] and the von Oertzen Collection (Johannesburg). [7]

With the publication of the archaeological contexts for such pieces in the late 1980s, it is now possible to associate them with Neolithic Hongshan 紅山 peoples in northeast China and to suggest a likely function. In graves, these tubular objects either supported the buried's neck or were found near the head, thus prompting the suggestion that they might have served as hair ornaments. If they indeed functioned as hair ornaments, it implies a distinctive way of wearing the hair.

A closer look at the excavated examples and their accompanying jades reveals the complex questions regarding jade-use among Hongshan 紅山 peoples:
1.  N2 Z1 M4 (H 18.6 cm) with two C-shaped animal-head pendants (fig. 1) in a small peripheral grave [8]
2.  N2 Z1 M15 (H 11.6 cm) with four other jades (a squared disk and three bracelets) in a small peripheral grave [9]
3.  N2 Z1 M21 (H 10.6 cm) with nineteen other jades, the largest number recovered from a single, still only peripheral, grave [10]
4.  N3 M7 (H 13.1 cm) with two other jades (a bead and a bracelet) from a deeply dug, central grave [11]
5.  Chengzishan 城子山 M2 (H 14.2 cm) with eight other jades (including a large scrolled pendant) in a deeply dug, stepped grave [12]
6.  Dadianzi 大甸子 M838 (H 14 cm) as the only jade in the grave, located horizontally under the corpse's waist. [13] C-14 dates obtained for this site range between 1700 and 1500 BCE

The excavated examples display consistencies in material and workmanship: many are made of similar muddy-green nephrite, show similar wear and uneven finish, including the distinctive score marks on the inside walls. But many also have small holes near the flat bottom that are not present on either of the Sackler ornaments. It is entirely possible that the Sackler ornaments originally had small holes near the bottom, but because of damage, have been ground and refinished in recent times.

They also posed more questions than they answered. No connections can be made between this ornament and the status of the individual who owned it. Burials that contain this ornament include deep centrally located graves of presumed leaders of the community and shallow peripheral graves of lesser individuals. This ornament can also come in richer burials with relatively large numbers or more modest graves with just a few jades. Although most examples have come from Neolithic contexts, the Dadianzi 大甸子 example suggests that the type might have survived or continued to be made unchanged into the early Bronze Age. Although many examples tend to be over ten centimeters tall, much lower versions measuring only a few centimeters are also known. [14] Were the short versions used the same way, differently, or by people with less hair (e.g. children or the elderly)? Clearly more information will help us better understand the role and meaning of this distinctive object of the Hongshan 紅山 peoples.

Published: Thomas Lawton, et al., Asian Art in the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery: The Inaugural Gift (Washington, D.C.: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, 1987), no. 32b; Jenny F. So and Janet G. Douglas, "Understanding and Identifying Jades from the Hongshan Culture," in Dongya yuqi 東亞玉器 = East Asian Jade: Symbol of Excellence, vol. 1, ed. by Deng Cong (Xianggang: Zhongguo kaogu yishu yanjiu zhongxin, 1998), pls. 15.6 and 15.7.

Figures:
1.  N2 Z1 M4 jades in situ (Liaoning sheng wenwu kaogu yanjiusuo 遼寧省文物考古研究所, Niuheliang Hongshan wenhua yizhi yu yuqi jingcui 牛河梁紅山文化遺址與玉器精粹 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1997), no. 52.

[1] See Jenny F. So and Janet G. Douglas, "Understanding and Identifying Jades from the Hongshan Culture," in Dongya yuqi 東亞玉器 = East Asian Jade: Symbol of Excellence, ed. by Deng Cong (Xianggang: Zhongguo kaogu yishu yanjiu zhongxin, 1998), pp. 152--53. In contrast, the other example in the present collection (S1987.626) shows a smooth finish throughout, the result possibly at a much later date. A third example formerly in the Sackler collection was sold at Christie's in 1994 (lot 75).

[2] Ren&‌eacute;-Yvon Lefebvre d'Argenc&‌eacute;, Chinese Jades in the Avery Brundage Collection (San Francisco: de Young Museum Society and Patrons of Art and Music for the Center of Asian Art and Culture, 1972), pl. XVIII.

[3] Stanley Charles Nott, Chinese Jade throughout the Ages: A Review of its Characteristics, Decoration, Folklore, and Symbolism (London: B. T. Batsford, LTD, 1936), pl. XV:2.

[4] Na Zhiliang, Chinese Jades: Archaic and Modern from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (Rutland, VT: C. E. Tuttle, 1977), p. 96, no. 97.

[5] Joan Marcia Hartman, Ancient Chinese Jades from the Buffalo Museum of Science (New York: China Institute in America, 1975), no. 81.

[6] Max Loehr, Ancient Chinese Jades from the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection in the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University (Cambridge, MA: Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, 1975), pp. 216--17, no. 323--24.

[7] S. Howard Hansford, Jade: Essence of Hills and Streams: the Von Oertzen Collection of Chinese and Indian Jades (London: Purnell and Sons, 1969), p. 103, no. C26.

[8] Liaoning sheng wenwu kaogu yanjiusuo 遼寧省文物考古研究所, Niuheliang Hongshan wenhua yizhi yu yuqi jingcui 牛河梁紅山文化遺址與玉器精粹 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1997), nos. 6, 52.

[9] Liaoning sheng wenwu kaogu yanjiusuo 遼寧省文物考古研究所, "Liaoning Niuheliang Hongshan wenhua 'nushen miao' yu jishizhong qun fajue jianbao 遼寧牛河梁紅山文化'女神廟'與積石冢群發掘簡報," Wenwu 文物 1986.8, color plate 2:3; p. 13, fig. 20:1.

[10] Liaoning sheng wenwu kaogu yanjiusuo 遼寧省文物考古研究所, "Liaoning Niuheliang dier didian yihao zhong 21 hao mu fajue jianbao 遼寧牛河梁第二地點一號冢21號墓發掘簡報," Wenwu 文物 1997.8, pp. 9--14, figs. 4:5--6.

[11] This grave is summarily reported in Wei Fan 魏凡, "Niuheliang Hongshan wenhua disan didian jishizhong shiguan mu 牛河梁紅山文化第三地點積石冢石棺墓," Liaohai wenwu xuekan 遼海文物學刊 1994.1, pp. 9--13, fig. 2:1, pl. 1:2.

[12] Li Gongdu 李恭篤, "Liaoning Lingyuan xian Sanguandianzi Chengzishan yizhi shijue baogao 遼寧淩源縣三官甸子城子山遺址試掘報告," Kaogu 考古 1986.6, pp. 497--510, fig. 4, pl. 2:5.

[13] Examples have also been collected, but not excavated, from archaeological sites such as Balinzuo qi 巴林左旗, Inner Mongolia (Wang Weixiang 王未想, "Balinzuo qi chutu de Hongshan wenhua yuqi 巴林左旗出土的紅山文化玉器," Liaohai wenwu xuekan 遼海文物學刊 1994.1, pp. 14--15, fig. 2, pls. 3:1, 3); ex-Max Loehr collection, reportedly from Chifeng 赤峰, Inner Mongolia (J. J. Lally and Company, Chinese Archaic Jades and Bronzes from the Estate of Professor Max Loehr and Others: June 4 to 30, 1993 (New York, NY: Lally, 1993), no. 20; Loehr's personal notes are on front endpaper.

[14] Examples are in the Liaoning 遼寧 Provincial Museum (reg. no. 25037, 2122.2), the Palace Museum, the Hotung collection (Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing [London: British Museum Press, 1995], no. 1:3), and the former Sackler collections, sold at Christie's in 1994 (lot 75).

• Jean-Pierre Dubosc. Mostra d’arte Cinese: Catalogo [Exhibition of Chinese art: Catalogue]. Exh. cat. Venice, 1954. No. 185.
• et al. Asian Art in the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery: The Inaugural Gift. Washington, 1987. cat. 32b, p. 76.
• J. Keith Wilson, Jingmin Zhang. Jades for Life and Death. .
• Elizabeth Childs-Johnson, Fang Gu. Yuqi shidai: Meiguo bowuguan cang Zhongguo zaoqi yuqi [The Jade Age: Early Chinese Jades in American Museums]. Beijing, 2009. p. 33.
• Dr. Paul Singer. Chinese Art: A Thousand Masterpieces from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections. Washington, 2000. p. 62.