Object: Pendant in the form of a coiled dragon S2012.9.353

Classification: Jewelry and Ornament

Historical period(s): Anyang period, Late Shang dynasty, ca. 1300-ca. 1050 BCE

Object Date: ca. 1300-ca. 1050 BCE

Medium: Jade (nephrite)

Dimension(s): H x W x D: 5 × 5 × 0.8 cm (2 × 2 × 5/16 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: S2012.9.353

: 盤龍飾
晚商安陽時期（公元前1300-1050年）
中國，疑似河南安陽市
軟玉
高5、寬5、厚0.8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：S2012.9.353

Provenance: From at least 1965 to 1997
Paul Singer (1904–1997), Summit, New Jersey, from at least 1965 [1]

From 1997
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, bequeathed by Paul Singer [2]

Notes:

[1] The object was included in an exhibition of Paul Singer’s collection and its accompanying catalogue compiled by Max Loehr, Relics of Ancient China, from the Collection of Dr. Paul Singer (New York: Asia Society, 1965), no. 34. The collection of Chinese art and antiquities assembled by Paul Singer over time was purchased by him on behalf of Dr. Arthur M. Sackler, The Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, the AMS Foundation for the Arts, Sciences and Humanities, and later transferred to the children of Dr. Arthur M. Sackler.

[2] Upon Paul Singer’s death in January 1997, his collection was transferred to the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery by order of the Executors of the Estate under a loan agreement signed on February 1997. Shortly thereafter, the Sackler Gallery was vested with full ownership and title to the collection in full agreement by the Sackler Foundations and Sackler family members. The formal accession of the Singer collection was completed in 2012.

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

Curatorial Remarks

1. (Daisy Yiyou Wang 王依悠, May 24, 2012) The Singer jue 玦 has a perforation in the center drilled probably from the back as the opening on the back appears larger than the opening on the decorated front. The edges appear rather sharp. It has earth encrustation and traces of cinnabar on the surface.

A jue 玦 of the similar type (diam. 5.5 cm, diam. of the hole 0.9--1.3 cm, thickness 0.5 cm) is published in 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), pp. 126, 129, fig. 70: 10, pl. 106: 2. The light yellowish jade jue 玦 numbered 1030 is described as a semi finished product without serrated edge. Like the Singer piece, it is only worked on one side showing a dragon with rounded eyes and scales; the other side is unembellished but highly polished. Unlike the Singer piece, the outer edge of the Fuhao 婦好 piece is not decorated. Type I jue 玦 from Fu Hao 婦好's tomb with similar surface design all have serrated edges and both sides decorated. All have an open mouth, and some have a hooked tail. This makes one wonder whether the Singer piece was made as a finished product or something to be worked on further. However, the Singer piece's edge, representing the spine of the dragon, is beveled with a ridge along the central axis and ten diamond shaped patterns with a V-shaped pattern at both ends. The level of finish and craftsmanship suggest that it may not be an unfinished object.

2. (Daisy Yiyou Wang 王依悠, June 4, 2012) The dragon shaped disks are discussed in Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing (London: British Museum Press, 1995), pp. 208--12. Rawson believed that the large number of coil-dragon disks found in Shang 商 tombs show the impact of the Hongshan 紅山 dragon in the Anyang 安陽 period. One change involved adding bottle horns in place of the curved Hongshan 紅山 type horns or ears. There are two major types: one is more three dimensional like S2012.9.232, the other is flatter like S2012.9.353.

3. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, May 2, 2018) Title changed from "Circular pendant (jue) in the form of a coiled dragon; reverse plain" to "Pendant in the form of a coiled dragon"; period two changed from "early Anyang period" to "Anyang period"; changed geography from "China" to "China, probably Henan province, Anyang"; added Chinese object caption by Jingmin Zhang; and added unpublished research by Louisa Fitzgerald Huber.

Unpublished Research: Draft catalogue entry (no. 145) for S2012.9.353 for the catalogue of the Singer collection (1970--1990); by Louise Fitzgerald Huber
Disk Shaped as a Coiled Dragon
Shang 商 --Western Zhou 周 dynasty, 12th--10th century BCE
Jade
Diameter 4.9 cm (1 15/16 in)

The translucent, dark sea green jade has a yellowish cloud on one side. A short segment of the outer perimeter of the disk has been shaped to conform to the profile of a bottle horned dragon, whose coiled body fills the surface of the disk as a series of curls and hooks executed in double lines. The dragon's paw grasps the perforation at the center, which has been drilled through from the reverse. The disk is decorated on one side only; the opposite side has been carefully polished. Another refinement is provided by the outer edge that has been beveled from both sides and decorated with a row of boxed diamonds running the length of the dragon's body.

The piece may be compared to several disk shaped dragons from Tomb 5 at Xiaotun 小屯; in nearly all cases, however, these figures are serrated the length of their spines along the outer perimeter of the disks and lack the detail of the paw that grasps the edge of the central perforation. [1]

Published: Max Loehr, Relics of Ancient China, from the Collection of Dr. Paul Singer (New York: Asia Society, 1965), no. 34; China Institute in America, Art Styles of Ancient Shang, from Private and Museum Collections (New York: China Institute, 1967), cat. 74.

[1] See 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), color pl. 16: 3, color pls. 104: 1--3, color pl. 106: 2 upper figure; Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu yanjiusuo 中國社會科學院考古研究所, Yinxu yuqi 殷墟玉器 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1982), figs. 2, 41.

Published References

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

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