Object: Sword scabbard chape with geometric decoration S2012.9.685

Classification: Weapon and Armament

Historical period(s): Warring States period, Eastern Zhou or Western Han dynasty, 475 BCE-9 CE

Object Date: 475 BCE-9 CE

Medium: Glass

Dimension(s): H x W x D (overall): 3.7 x 5.5 x 1.2 cm (1 7/16 x 2 3/16 x 1/2 in)

Origin: China

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: S2012.9.685

: 幾何紋劍珌
東周戰國或西漢時期（公元前475--公元9年）
中國
玻璃
高3.7、寬5.5、厚1.2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：S2012.9.685

Provenance: ?-1997
Dr. Paul Singer (1904-1997), method of acquisition unknown [1]

1997-1999
In the custody of Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, upon death of Paul Singer and establishment of a loan agreement [2]

From 1999
The National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, by 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 [3]

Notes:

[1] The collection of Chinese art and antiquities assembled by Dr. Paul Singer over time was purchased by him on behalf of Dr. Arthur M. Sackler, Jillian Sackler, The Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, the AMS Foundation for the Arts, Sciences and Humanities and later was transferred to the children of Dr. Arthur M. Sackler.

[2] The Dr. Paul Singer Collection of Chinese Art came into the custody of the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, upon Paul Singer’s death in January 1997. See loan agreement between the Executors of the Singer Estate and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, February 1997, copy in collection accession files. In March 2023, the museum's legal name changed to National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution.

[3] The entirety of the Dr. Paul Singer Collection of Chinese Art formally accessioned in 2012. See the Dr. Paul Singer Collection of Chinese Art gift agreement, March 1999, copy in collection accession files. The work is part of the Museum’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection.

Research updated on June 12, 2024.

Previous owner(s): Dr. Paul Singer (1904-1997)

Curatorial Remarks

1. (Daisy Yiyou Wang, July 15, 2013) Title changed from "Sword chape" to "Sword chape with scrolls."
The surface of the chape was worked, and some rough areas have possibly attracted reddish clay. The oblong opening on one end is filled with a reddish substance. Was it clay?
2. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, February 6, 2024) Title changed from "Sword chape with scrolls" to "Sword scabbard chape with geometric decoration"; added Period Two as "Warring States period"; Date changed from "3rd-1st century BCE" to "475 BCE-9 CE"; added Chinese caption by Jingmin Zhang; and added Unpublished Research by Jenny F. So.

Unpublished Research: Draft catalogue entry (no. 450) for S2012.9.685 for the catalogue of the Singer collection (1970--1990); by Jenny F. So
Sword Chape
Eastern Zhou 周--Western Han 漢 dynasty, 3rd--1st century BCE
Glass
Width 5.7 cm (2 1/4 in)
The trapezoidal piece has slightly inward curving sides. The cross section is lenticular. Both sides are decorated with angular spirals symmetrically arranged down the median. A rectangular rather than the usual circular depression is drilled into the center of the smaller lenticular top. The glass is evenly stained by fine reddish soil. A glass scabbard slide in the Singer collection [S2012.9.754] has the same reddish staining, suggesting that both could have come from the same burial. Less costly but no less beautiful, glass was often used as a substitute for jade mortuary items in late Eastern Zhou 周 and Han 漢 burials.
Published: Max Loehr, Relics of Ancient China, from the Collection of Dr. Paul Singer (New York: Asia Society, 1965), no. 101.

Published References: Published References are currently unavailable.

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Sword scabbard chape with geometric decoration

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