Object: Pendant in the form of a bird, reworked S1987.879

Classification: Jewelry and Ornament

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

Object Date: ca. 1250-1050 BCE

Medium: Jade (nephrite)

Dimension(s): H x W x D: 5.4 × 4.5 × 2 cm (2 1/8 × 1 3/4 × 13/16 in)

Origin: China, probably Henan province, Anyang

Credit Line: Gift of Arthur M. Sackler

Collection: Arthur M. Sackler Collection

Accession Number: S1987.879

: 鳥形飾（二次加工）
晚商安陽時期（公元前1250-1050年）
中國，疑似河南安陽市
軟玉
高5.1、寬4.5、厚2釐米
亞瑟·M·賽克勒贈送
器物編號：S1987.879

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), United States and England, acquired by descent from her father, Abel William Bahr

From 1963 to 1987
Dr. Arthur M. Sackler, New York, purchased from the 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 #439: "Green-grey," 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: This stylized owl is decorated all over the back and wings with a mask, worked in flat relief. Only the outline of the wings and the striated tail create a bird. The stone is greenish-gray. (Old labels adhere to back; large chip in right side; soil and cinnabar adhere; flaw on bottom; nick in left wing tip, bottom.)

Past label text: 1. (In Praise of Ancestors, September 28, 1987–January 5, 1989; by Thomas Lawton) (shown with S1987.844, S1987.839, S1987.876, S1987.579, S1987.705, S1987.732, S1987.719, S1987.637, S1987.877, S1987.696, S1987.694, S1987.861, S1987.517, S1987.689, S1987.567, S1987.864, S1987.575, S1987.540, and S1987.542)

Pendant (Pei 珮)

13th–11th centuries BCE

Shang 商 dynasty

China

Jade

2. (Ancient Chinese Jades and Bronzes, October 1, 1989–September 10, 1990; by Thomas Lawton)

Bird Pendant (Niao Pei 鳥佩)

Shang 商 dynasty, ca. 1200 BCE

China

Jade

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

Fitting in the form of a mask (taotie); Pendants:
Face and Dragon, recycled from Neolithic objects
Anyang period, ca. 1250–1050 BCE
Jade (nephrite)
The Dr. Paul Singer Collection of Chinese Art of the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; a joint gift of the Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, Paul Singer, the AMS Foundation for the Arts, Sciences, and Humanities, and the Children of Arthur M. Sackler S2012.9.165, S2012.9.319, and S2012.9.355

Pendants: Mask (taotie),
Dragon, and Birds, recycled
from Neolithic objects
Anyang period,
ca. 1250–1050 BCE
Jade (nephrite)
Gift of Arthur M. Sackler S1987.865, S1987.550, S1987.549, S1987.879, and S1987.861

Recycling
Since jade was a valuable commodity, broken or outof-fashion articles were not discarded but were instead recycled to make new objects. Most of the Anyang jades shown at the bottom of this case were made by cutting up a special kind of Neolithic square tube called a cong, which had lost its ritual significance in Shang times.

Curatorial Remarks

1. (Paul Singer, January 3, 1986) A piece quite close to this one was excavated from a Shang 商 tomb at Zou xian 鄒縣, Shandong 山東 province. See Chutu wenwu zhanlan gongzuozu 出土文物展覽工作組, ed., Wenhua dageming qijian chutu wenwu 文化大革命期間出土文物 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1972), p. 124.
2. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, July 1, 2008) Jewelry added as secondary classification.

3. (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."
4. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, July 28, 2019) Title changed from "Pendant (pei) in the form of a bird" to "Pendant in the form of a bird, reworked"; Period One changed from "Shang dynasty" to "Late Shang dynasty"; date changed from "ca. 13th-11th century BCE" to "ca. 1300-ca. 1050 BCE"; Geography changed from "China" to "China, probably Henan province, Anyang"; added Past Label Text from exhibition, In Praise of Ancestors, and Ancient Chinese Jades and Bronzes; and added the following to the Description field, "This stylized owl is decorated all over the back and wings with a mask, worked in flat relief. Only the outline of the wings and the striated tail create a bird. The stone is greenish-gray. (Old labels adhere to back; large chip in right side; soil and cinnabar adhere; flaw on bottom; nick in left wing tip, bottom.)"
Object name changd from "pendant" to "jewelry."
5. (YinYing Chen per Keith Wilson, February 22, 2023)
Change date from "ca. 1300-ca. 1050 BCE" to "ca. 1250-ca. 1050 BCE."
Change date from "公元前1300-1050年" to "公元前1250-1050年" in the translation field.

Published References

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

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Pendant in the form of a bird, reworked

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