Object: Forked blade (zhang 璋) F1915.69

Classification: Ceremonial Object

Historical period(s): Late Neolithic period or early Shang dynasty, ca. 1600-1400 BCE

Object Date: ca. 1600-1400 BCE

Medium: Jade (nephrite)

Dimension(s): H x W x D: 33.5 x 7.1 x 1.3 cm (13 3/16 x 2 13/16 x 1/2 in)

Origin: China

Credit Line: Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Collection: Freer Gallery of Art Collection

Accession Number: F1915.69

: 璋
新石器时代晚期（公元前5000--1700年）或商代早期（公元前1600--1400年）
中國
軟玉
高33.5、寬7.1、厚1.3釐米
查爾斯·蘭·弗利爾贈送
器物編號：F1915.69

Provenance: To 1915
Huang Zhonghui (circa 1870- after 1923), to 1915 [1]

From 1915 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Huang Zhonghui, in New York, in 1915 [2]

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

Notes:

[1] See Original Miscellaneous List, S.I. 657, pg. 157, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. See also, Curatorial Remarks.

[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): Huang Zhonghui 黃中慧 (C.L. Freer source) (ca. 1870-after 1923)
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

Description: Ceremonial implement of the type kuei [gui] 圭; long, wide form with bevelled end and perforation above handle; mottled pale cream and dark reddish brown with traces of black; smooth surface. (Slightly chipped, gouge at end of handle.)

Past label text: Ancient Chinese Jade, September 4, 1980–March 6, 1981; by Julia K. Murray (additional jades organized by types shown in same case).

Based on a Neolithic stone tool whose blade is sharpened at the top, early jade chisels were ceremonial rather than utilitarian. The shape was retained in the jade repertoire in the Shang 商 and Chou [Zhou] 周 periods. The simple, elegant shape of a chisel is subtly embellished by smoothly ground edges, which are shown to advantage by the lustrous polish of the entire surface.

This exceptionally large chisel resembles some types of scepter, another ceremonial tablet. A smaller object of similar shape was found at Chung chou lu [Zhongzhoulu] 中州路, near Loyang [Luoyang] 洛陽, Honan [Henan] 河南, in a tomb assigned to the Western Chou [Zhou] 周 period, ca. 1027–771 BCE.

Curatorial Remarks

1. Bought from Hwang Chung huei [Huang Zhonghui] 黃中慧, New York. For price, see Original Miscellaneous List, p. 157. $1010.

2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: Chinese. Early Chou [Zhou] 周. See further, S.I. 657, Appendix VII.

3. (Carl Whiting Bishop, 1922) See Berthold Laufer, Jade: A Study in Chinese Archaeology and Religion (Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History, 1912), p. 99 for discussion of type, also p. 90 et seq. and figs. 24, 28--33.

4. (Archibald Gibson Wenley, 1946) Early Chou [Zhou] 周 dynasty.

5. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Sp. G. is 2.919.

6. (George Perkins Merrill, 1922) If that isn't nephrite, I don't know what it is--there is nothing else that would look like that--so fine, compact, and hard.

7. (Julia K. Murray, 1980) Attribution is changed from Late Shang 商--Early Western Chou [Zhou] 周 to Western Chou [Zhou] 周, ca. 1027--771 BCE.

8. (Julia K. Murray, 1982) The large tablet F1915.69 represents a type of ceremonial jade originally based on Neolithic stone tool shapes. It shares certain features with chisel shaped jades (see Folder Sheet F1917.31) such as the beveling of the short end opposite the perforation. Its indented grip, however, is reminiscent of the chang [zhang] 璋 scepter (see Folder Sheet F1916.492), and it could be called a broad example of the type of chang [zhang] 璋 that does not have projecting handles (see F1916.369).

The Chung chou lu [Zhongzhou Lu] 中州路 tablet mentioned in the 1980 label is reproduced in Chung-kuo k'e-hsueh yuan k'ao-ku yen-chiu-suo [Zhongguo kexueyuan kaogu yanjiusuo] 中國科學院考古研究所, Lo yang Chung chou lu [Luoyang Zhongzhoulu] 洛陽中州路（西工段） (Beijing: Kexue chubanshe, 1959), pl. 42:8.

9. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, July 8, 2008) Ceremonial object added as secondary classification.

10. (Susan Kitsoulis per Keith Wilson, April 2, 2010) Object name changed from "Ceremonial implement" to "Ceremonial object." Title changed from "Ceremonial implement of the type kuei 圭" to "Straight chisel (gui 圭)."

11. (Jeffrey Smith, April 1, 2016) Transferred from the Description field: Chinese Western Chou, 1027-771 B.C. Ceremonial implement of the type "kuei," long, wide form with bevelled end and perforation above handle; mottled pale cream and dark reddish brown with traces of black; smooth surface. (Slightly chipped, gouge at end of handle.)

12. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, April 1, 2016) Period changed from Western Zhou dynasty to Late Neolithic period or early Shang dynasty. Title changed from "Straight chisel (gui 圭)" to "Forked blade (zhang 璋)".

Published References

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

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Forked blade (zhang 璋)

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