Jades for Life and Death

Classification: Ceremonial Object

Maker(s): Artist: Liangzhu culture 良渚 (ca. 3300-ca. 2250 BCE)

Historical period(s): Late Neolithic period, ca. 3300-2250 BCE

Object Date: ca. 3300-2250 BCE

Medium: Jade (nephrite)

Dimension(s): Diam x D: 17.1 x 1.4 cm (6 3/4 x 9/16 in)

Origin: China, Lake Tai region

Credit Line: Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Collection: Freer Gallery of Art Collection

Accession Number: F1911.444

: 璧
新石器時代晚期良渚文化（公元前3300--2250年）
中國太湖地區
軟玉
直徑17.1、厚1.4釐米
查爾斯·蘭·佛利爾贈送
器物編號：F1911.444

Provenance: To 1911
Pa Ku Cha, China, to 1911 [1]

From 1911 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Pa Ku Cha, China, in 1911 [2]

From 1920
Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]

Notes:

[1] See Original Miscellaneous List, pg. 94, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

[2] See note 1.

[3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.

Previous owner(s): Pa Ku Cha (C.L. Freer source)
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

Description: Perforated disk of the type pi [bi] 璧; bored from both sides, leaving a pronounced median ridge; rich mottled browns with excessive white disintegration, one area near rim completely decomposed on both sides; proportions irregular; surface rough with cracks and pits of decomposition. (Rim broken and chipped.)

Acquired with a box, now lost.

Curatorial Remarks

1. Bought from Pa Ku Cha, China. For price, see Original Miscellaneous List, p. 94. $40.

2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: Chinese. Han 漢 or Chou [Zhou] 周. See further, S.I. 348, Appendix IV.

3. (Isabel Ingram Mayer, 1945) Chou [Zhou] 周 dynasty.

4. (Thomas Lawton, 1978) Attribution changed from Chou [Zhou] 周 to Neolithic. See Folder Sheet for F1917.19.

5. (Stephen Allee per Keith Wilson, February 4, 2008) On this date entered: Period One (Late Neolithic period), Date (ca. 5000--ca. 1700 BCE), Artist (Liangzhu 良渚 culture), Title, Object name, Geographical region (Lake Tai 太湖 region); plus Description per Jenny F. So and Dimensions per Christine Lee, from Jade Project Database. Added designation "nephrite" to Medium as per Elisabeth West Fitzhugh, as determined by x ray diffraction March 1958, and confirmed by Wen Guang 聞廣, as determined by infrared spectroscopy June 1997.

6. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, July 17, 2008) Ceremonial Objects added as secondary classification.

7. (Jeffrey Smith, April 13, 2016) Transferred from Description: (Jenny So, from Jade Project Database) Deep mottled brown. Biconical hole with ledge at meeting point of drill bits; centered on one face only. Regularly rounded shape, uneven thickness. Surface very pitted and much altered.

(File folder) Perforated disc of the type "bi." Bored from both sides, leaving a pronounced median ridge. Rich mottled browns with excessive white disintegration, one area near rim completely decomposed on both sides. Proportions irregular. Surface rough with cracks and pits of decomposition. Rim broken and chipped. Box. Neg. No. 373B4

Published References

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

CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0): This image is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

Save this image | Terms of use

Disk (bi 璧)

Related Objects

Related Media

Web Resources