Object: Pendant with dragon heads, interlaced dragons, and mask F1916.146

Classification: Jewelry and Ornament

Historical period(s): Spring and Autumn period, Eastern Zhou dynasty, ca. 600-476 BCE

Object Date: ca. 600-476 BCE

Medium: Jade (nephrite)

Dimension(s): H x W x D: 7.8 × 1.9 × 0.3 cm (3 1/16 × 3/4 × 1/8 in)

Origin: China

Credit Line: Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Collection: Freer Gallery of Art Collection

Accession Number: F1916.146

: 龍首、交龍和獸面紋佩
東周春秋時期（公元前600--476年）
中國
軟玉
高11.8、寬8.2、厚1.2釐米
查爾斯·蘭·佛利爾贈送
器物編號：F1916.146

Provenance: To 1916
Lai-Yuan and Company, New York, NY to 1916 [1]

From 1916 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Lai-Yuan and Company in 1916 [2]

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

Notes:

[1] See Original Miscellaneous List, S.I. 828, pg. 179, 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): Lai-Yuan & Company (C.L. Freer source) (ca. 1915-April 1921)
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

Description: Ornament; thin strip cut in arc of circle, ending in dragon (?) heads, of the type “p’ei huang [peihuang] 佩璜”; one perforation; translucent, grayish white flecked with golden tan; traces of cloudy white decomposition; decoration: carved in sensible relief and delicately incised; both sides alike; interlaced, stylized coiling bodies; one “t’ao t’ieh [taotie] 饕餮” mask.

Curatorial Remarks

1. Bought from Lai Yuan and Company, New York, NY. For price, see Original Miscellaneous List, p. 179. Price
2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: Sung [Song] 宋. See further, S.I. 828, Appendix VII.
3. (John Ellerton Lodge, 1929) Han 漢(?).
4. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Repaired by S. Mikami in 1929.
5. (Archibald Gibson Wenley, 1943) Late Chou [Zhou] 周 dynasty. Lower side piece of a girdle pendant, "p'ei huang [peihuang] 佩璜."
6. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Sp. G. is 2.970. Nephrite.
7. (Thomas Lawton, 1978) Attribution changed from "Late Chou [Zhou] 周 dynasty" to "Eastern Chou [Zhou] 周, ca. 500 BCE."
8. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, July 29, 2008) "Jewelry" and "Ornament" added as secondary classification.
9. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, October 19, 2021) Period two added as Spring and Autumn period. Date changed from "ca. 500 BCE" to "ca. 600-476 BCE." Title changed from "Ornament" to "Pendant with dragon heads, interlaced dragons, and mask.
10. (Najiba Choudhury per Matthew Clarke, December 14, 2021) Medium changed from "Jade" to "Jade (nephrite)".

Published References

Alfred Salmony. Carved Jade of Ancient China. Berkeley, 1938. pl. 40, no. 5.

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Pendant with dragon heads, interlaced dragons, and mask

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