Object: Ornament in the form of an animal head and crest, reworked from a tube (cong 琮) S2012.9.165

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 (neprhite)

Dimension(s): H x W x D: 7.2 × 7.4 × 3.2 cm (2 13/16 × 2 15/16 × 1 1/4 in)

Origin: China, probably Henan province, Anyang

Credit Line: 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

Collection: Arthur M. Sackler Collection

Accession Number: S2012.9.165

: 帶冠獸首形飾，由琮後期加工而成（殘損）
新石器時代晚期良渚文化（公元前3300--2250年）出品；西周（公元前1050-950年）重製
中國太湖地區
軟玉
高6.7、寬7.3、厚3.2釐米
史密森博物學院亞瑟·M·賽克勒美術館保羅·辛格中國藝術收藏品；亞瑟·M·賽克勒基金會，保羅·辛格，AMS基金會，及亞瑟·M·賽克勒子女聯合贈送
器物編號：S2012.9.165

Provenance: To 1983
Mr. and Mrs. Richard C. Bull. [1]

1983
Sale, New York, Sotheby Parke Bernet Inc., Important Chinese Works of Art: The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Richard C. Bull, December 6, 1983, Sale #5122, lot 129: “Rare Large Jade Taotie Mask.” [2]

To 1997
Dr. Paul Singer (1904-1997), Summit, New Jersey. [3]

From 1997 to 1999
In the custody of Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, DC [4]

From 1999
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, gift of the Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, Paul Singer, the AMS Foundation for the Arts, Sciences, and Humanities, and the Children of Dr. Arthur M. Sackler. [5]

Notes:

[1] See auction catalogue from the Sotheby Parke Bernet Inc., New York sale of December 6, 1983, Sale #5122.

[2] See note 1.

[3] See object record.

[4] Between 1997 and 1999, The Dr. Paul Singer Collection of Chinese Art was in the custody of the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington DC

[5] See “The Dr. Paul Singer Collection of Chinese Art Gift Agreement” from March 1999, Collections Management Office. The object was formally accessioned into the museum’s permanent collection in 2012.

Previous owner(s): Mr. and Mrs. Richard C. Bull
Sotheby's (New York)
Dr. Paul Singer (1904-1997)

Past label text: 1. (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. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, February 3, 2020) Title changed from "Tube (cong), fragment, reworked to make a head with crest" to "Ornament in the form of an animal head and crest, reworked from a tube (cong 琮), fragment"; Period One changed from "Late Neolithic period; refashioned Shang dynasty" to "Late Neolithic period; reworked in Western Zhou dynasty"; Date changed from "ca.1600-ca. 1050 BCE" to "ca. 1050-ca. 950 BCE"; and added Chinese Caption by Jingmin Zhang. Object name changed from "ceremonial object" to "ornament."
2. (YinYing Chen per Keith Wilson, February 22, 2023)
Change title from "Ornament in the form of an animal head and crest, reworked from a tube (cong 琮), fragment" to "Ornament in the form of an animal head and crest, reworked from a tube (cong 琮)."
Change period from "Late Neolithic period; reworked in Western Zhou dynasty" to "Late Shang dynasty, Anyang period."
Change date from "ca. 1050-ca. 950 BCE" to "ca. 1250-ca. 1050 BCE."
Remove "Liangzhu culture Liangzhu culture 良渚 (ca. 3300-ca. 2250 BCE)" from artist.
Change medium from "Jade" to "Jade (neprhite)"
Change geography from "China, Late Tai region " to "China, probably Henan province, Anyang."
3. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, October 4, 2024) Classification changed from "Ceremonial Object" to "Jewelry and Ornament"

Unpublished Research: Draft catalogue entry (no. 39) for S2012.9.165 for the catalogue of the Singer collection (1970--90); by Louisa Fitzgerald Huber
Zoomorphic Head with Horns and Crests
Neolithic period, Shang 商 dynasty, 2nd millennium BCE
Jade
Height 6.6 cm (2 9/16 in)

This impressive zoomorphic head is shaped from a thick chunk of jade in such a way that the two flat planes of the face extend at obtuse angles from the vertical median at the center. The contours of the horns at the top of the head and the broad planes of the crests rising to either side beyond them remain in a rough and unfinished state. The surfaces are smoothly polished and left undecorated. The curvature of the reverse side, which is like the inner wall of a cylinder, along with the angularity of the head at the front, suggests that the piece may have been fashioned from the corner of a large cong. The jade is translucent gray green with streaks of blackish-brown matrix. Small patches of soil and cinnabar are evident, especially within the grooves remaining from the sawing process.

Published: Alfred Salmony, Chinese Jade through the Wei Dynasty (New York: Ronald Press, 1963), pl. 2: 4.

Published References

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

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Ornament in the form of an animal head and crest, reworked from a tube (cong 琮)

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