1. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, August 2, 2017) Title changed from "Tube (cong)" to "Tube (cong 琮)"; period one changed from "Shang dynasty" to "Probably late Shang dynasty"; period two added "Anyang period"; geography changed from "China" to "China, probably Henan province, Anyang"; date changed from "ca. 1600-1050 BCE" to "ca. 1300-ca. 1050 BCE"; medium changed from "jade" to "jade (nephrite)".
2. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, July 26, 2018) Added Chinese translation and unpublished research.
Draft catalogue entry (no. 77) for S2012.9.243 for the catalogue of the Singer collection (1970--90); by Louisa Fitzgerald Huber
Cong 琮
Shang 商dynasty, 13th--12th century BCE
Jade
Height 4.2 cm (1 5/8 in)
The square prism is perforated through its center by a wide, circular hole drilled from both ends. Its four corners are chamfered, giving shape to the wall of the perforation at the top and bottom. The wall of the perforation is thus of approximately even thickness while remaining flattish and imperfectly circular where it joins each of the four sides. The jade is gray green with whitish discoloration. A comparable example has been unearthed from Tomb 5 at Xiaotun 小屯. [1]
[1] Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu yanjiusuo 中國社會科學院考古研究所, Yinxu Fu Hao mu 殷墟婦好墓 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1980), pl. 81:3.
Usage conditions apply
There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.
The information presented on this website may be revised and updated at any time as ongoing research progresses or as otherwise warranted. Pending any such revisions and updates, information on this site may be incomplete or inaccurate or may contain typographical errors. Neither the Smithsonian nor its regents, officers, employees, or agents make any representations about the accuracy, reliability, completeness, or timeliness of the information on the site. Use this site and the information provided on it subject to your own judgment. The National Museum of Asian Art welcomes information that would augment or clarify the ownership history of objects in their collections..
International Image Interoperability Framework