Pendant in the form of a faceted ring

1. Bought from Abel William Bahr, New York. See "Miscellaneous List of Stone, Marble, Jade, etc.," May 1917, page  9.

2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: Chinese agate. See above reference.

3. (G. A. Eisen, 1929) Two Chinese carinated rings of milch-colored translucent glass. Somewhat similar carinated  rings have also been found in late Etruscan tombs of the early Roman Empire in Italy.

4. (Hin-cheung Lovell, 1975) Added "Period Uncertain."

5. (Thomas Lawton, 1981) Rings of this general size and shape have been found in a Warring States period tomb near Lin tzu [Linzi] 臨淄, the site of the ancient capital of the State of Ch'i [Qi] 齊, in Shantung [Shandong] 山東province. Those rings were fashioned of crystal and jade and were joined with pierced round and cylindrical beads to form elaborate necklaces or pectorals (Shangdong sheng bowuguan 山東省博物館, "Linzi Langjiazhuang yihao Dongzhou xunrenmu 臨淄郎家莊一號東周殉人墓," Kaogu xuebao 考古學報 1977.1, pl. 14:1--2). It is conceivable that the rings in the Freer collection (see F1915.319 and F19 15.340) might have been part of a similar necklace. The date and the origin of the earliest glass found in China remain perplexing problems (A convenient summary  of traditional Western ideas on early Chinese glass is provided by R. Soame Jenyns, "Glass and Painting on Glass," which forms Chapter II in Chinese Art: Textiles, glass and painting on glass, carvings in ivory and rhinoceros horns, carvings in hardstone, snuff bottles, inkcakes and inkstones [New York: Rizzoli, 1982], pp. 119--43). In the past, it was believed that the earliest  examples of glass in China probably dated from the Warring States period and that some of those pieces were of Western manufacture. However, as early as 1959, Chinese scholars were proposing that a type of glass different from that made in the West had been produced in China during the Eastern Chou [Zhou] 周 period (Jiao Daoyi 交道義, "Changsha Chumu 長沙楚墓," Kaogu xuebao 考古學報 1959.1, pp. 41--60, especially p. 58 and pl. 8:6--10. More recently, a large number of small glass beads have been found in archaeological sites dated to early Western Chou [Zhou] 周 (11th century BCE) and preliminary examination of the chemical composition of those beads has prompted some Chinese specialists to suggest that their lead barium composition is quite different from Western examples and that they could be recognized as the early type of glass made in China. It was further proposed that the early Chinese glass industry developed along with the contemporary bronze manufacture (Yang Boda 楊伯達, "Guanyu woguo gubolishi yanjiu de jige wenti 關於我國古玻璃史研究的幾個問題," Wenwu 文物 1979.5, pp. 76--78). Attribution changed from "period uncertain" to "Eastern Chou [Zhou] 周--Warring States period; 5th--4th centuries BCE."

6. (Thomas Lawton, Chinese Art of the Warring States Period: Change and Continuity, 480-222 B.C. [Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1982], cat. no. 131) The plain, angular surfaces of the quartz ring are separated by  narrow flat intervals that function as spines on the three outer junctures. On the interior of the ring, the two planes meet to form a simple pointed ridge.

Rings of this general size and shape have been found in the Warring States period tomb near Lin-tzu [Linzi] 臨淄, the site of the ancient capital of the state of Ch'I [Qi] 齊, in Shantung [Shandong] 山東 province. Those rings were fashioned of crystal and jade and were joined with pierced round and cylindrical beads to form elaborate necklaces or pectorals. [1] It is conceivable that the ring in the Freer collection might have been part of a similar necklace.

[1] Shangdong sheng bowuguan 山東省博物館, "Linzi Langjiazhuang yihao Dongzhou xunrenmu 臨淄郎家莊一號東周殉人墓," Kaogu xuebao 考古學報 1977.1, pl. 14:1--2.

7. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, July 17, 2008) "Jewelry" added as secondary classification.

8. (Jeffrey Smith per Matthew Clarke, April 25, 2022) Material changed from Glass to Quartz.

9. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, August 22, 2023) Title changed from "Ring; plain, angular surfaces of this ring are separated by narrow flat intervals that function as "spines" on the three outer junctures" to "Pendant in the form of a faceted ring"; Period Two entered as "Warring States period"; Date changed from "5th-4th century BCE" to "475–221 BCE"; and added Chinese caption by Jingmin Zhang.