Object: Hand grip in the form of a pig S2012.9.755

Classification: Ceremonial Object

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): 2 x 9.5 x 2 cm (13/16 x 3 3/4 x 13/16 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: S2012.9.755

: 豬形握
東周戰國或西漢時期（公元前475--公元9年）
中國
玻璃
高2、寬9.5、厚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：S2012.9.755

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) The pig has a very simple but expressive form. There are black spots on the surface throughout.
2. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, November 27, 2023) Object Classification changed from "Sculpture" to "Ceremonial Object"; Object Name changed from "Figure: pig" to "Hand grip"; Title changed from "Recumbent pig" to "Hand grip in the form of a pig"; added Period Two as "Warring States period"; Date changed from "4th-1st century BCE" to "475 BCE-9 CE"; added Unpublished Research by Max Loehr; and added Chinese caption by Jingmin Zhang.

Unpublished Research: Draft catalogue entry (no. 445) for S2012.9.755 for the catalogue of the Singer Collection (1970--1990); by Max Loehr
Recumbent Pig
Eastern Zhou 周 Western Han 漢 dynasty, 4th--1st century BCE
Glass
Length 9.5 cm (3 3/4 in)
This fairly realistically modeled pig is a rare product of the glass industry of the period. Its original blue color is preserved below the now whitish surface.
The glass pig is a type of mortuary object used widely and over a considerable span of time, to judge from the numerous surviving specimens in jade and marble. One recorded analogy to a pig of white glass is assigned to the last century BCE or first century AD and is now in the Gotoh Museum, Tokyo. [1] The Gotoh specimen is stylistically later than the Singer piece, as may be seen by comparing the two with a jade pig from a tomb datable between 56 and 88 CE, excavated at Beizhuang 北莊 in Dingxian 定縣, Hebei 河北 province. [2]
[1] Heibonsha. Sekai bijutsu zenshu, Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1968, 13: colorpl. 11.
[2] Hebei sheng wenhuaju wenwu gongzuodui 河北省文化局文物工作隊, "Hebei Ding xian Beizhuang Han mu fajue baogao 河北定县北庄汉墓发掘报告," Kaogu xuebao 考古学报 1964.2, p. 148, fig. 22:4.

Published References: Published References are currently unavailable.

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Hand grip in the form of a pig

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