Object: Disk (bi) with raised hexagons arranged in a grid, dragon, and feline F1916.155

Classification: Ceremonial Object

Historical period(s): Eastern Han dynasty, 100-220

Object Date: 100-220

Medium: Jade (nephrite)

Dimension(s): H x W x D: 22 x 15.2 x 0.7 cm (8 11/16 x 6 x 1/4 in) Diam (hole): 2.6 cm (1 in)

Origin: China

Credit Line: Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Collection: Freer Gallery of Art Collection

Accession Number: F1916.155

: 凸面網格蒲紋、龍紋和螭虎紋璧
東漢（100--220年）
中國
軟玉
高22、寬15.2、厚0.7釐米；孔徑2.6釐米
查爾斯·蘭·佛利爾贈送
器物編號：F1916.155

Provenance: To 1916
Lai Yuan and Company, New York, 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. 892, p. 196, 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)

Past label text: 1. Ancient Chinese Jades and Bronzes, November 20, 2010–January 3, 2016; by Keith Wilson (shown with F1917.356, F1918.27, F2002.16a-b, F1917.50)
Bi 璧 with dragon and feline
China, Eastern Han 漢 dynasty, ca. 100–220

Bi 璧 Revival

Many of the jade forms associated with the Neolithic Liangzhu 良渚 culture disappeared during the early Bronze Age. More than a thousand years later, however, a revival in creating and using certain kinds of funerary objects might have begun with the chance discovery of long-forgotten Liangzhu 良渚 tombs in central China. In fact, some burial sites from the Zhou 周 dynasty include reburied Neolithic bi 璧, while others hold new disks placed prominently around the deceased in an echo of ancient rites.

Disks unearthed in later tombs are generally made of thin slices of jade that are decorated on both sides. The textured surface and glassy polish lent a highly reflective surface to the translucent objects and marked a new aesthetic in the working of jade.

The elaborate openwork design of a dragon in sweeping curves resembling clouds and a feline with a twisted body in profile suggests a narrative and setting that extend beyond pure decoration. Disks such as this, created
from pale green nephrite of exceptional quality, are extremely rare and have been found only in royal tombs.

2. Afterlife: Ancient Chinese Jades, October 14, 2017–April 15, 2018; by Keith Wilson (shown with F1917.356, F1918.27, F2002.16a-b, F1917.50)
Bi 璧 with dragon and feline
China, Eastern Han 漢 dynasty, ca. 100–220

Bi 璧 Revival
Many jade forms stopped being made with the passing of the Neolithic Liangzhu 良渚 culture. Well over a thousand years later, however, the chance discovery of long forgotten Liangzhu 良渚 tombs in central China may have sparked a revival in the use of certain types of funerary objects. Some burial sites from the Zhou 周 dynasty (circa 1050–256 BCE), for example, include reburied Neolithic bi 璧, while others hold new disks placed prominently on or around the deceased, as if echoing ancient rites.

Bi 璧 unearthed in later tombs are generally made of thin slices of nephrite decorated on both sides to create a textured surface. A glassy polish gave the translucent objects a highly reflective surface that marked a new aesthetic in working with jade.

Do you see a dragon among sweeping, cloudlike curves and a feline with a twisted body in profile? Such elaborate openwork designs suggest a narrative and setting that extend beyond pure decoration. Similar disks shaped from pale green nephrite of exceptional quality have been found only in royal tombs of the Han 漢 dynasty.

Curatorial Remarks

1. Bought from Lai-Yuan and Company, New York. For price, see Original Miscellaneous List, p. 196.
2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: T'ang [Tang] 唐. See further, S.I. 892, Appendix VII.
3. (John Ellerton Lodge, 1927) Han 漢.
4. (John Ellerton Lodge, 1939) Early Han 漢.
5. (Archibald Gibson Wenley, 1945) The animals are intertwined monsters, dragon and feline type respectively. See F1939.14, note 3 (John Ellerton Lodge, 1939) for discussion of pi [bi] 璧 type.
6. (Thomas Lawton, 1974) Attributes this to Western Han 漢 dynasty, 2nd century BCE.
The narrow bands and geometrically arranged raised spirals on the surface of the pi [bi] 璧 are similar to those described in the Folder Sheet for F1917.85. However, the spirals in this example are more plastically rendered and the incised curling lines have been omitted.
During late Eastern Chou [Zhou] 周 and Han 漢 times, when funerary objects were often elaborately fashioned and luxuriously decorated, jade artisans occasionally extended the prescribed shape of the pi [bi] 璧 by adding fantastic serpentine creatures which contrast with the simplicity of the disk itself. The intertwined dragon and feline atop this pi [bi] 璧 are enframed by curling tails and plumes.
In 1959, a similarly elaborate jade pi [bi] 璧 was unearthed in a Han 漢 tomb in Ting Hsien [Ding xian] 定縣, Hopei [Hebei] 河北 province (The Chinese Exhibition: A Pictorial Record of the Exhibition of Archaeological Finds of the People's Republic of China [Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1974], no. 210). The lay out of the tomb, and the style of the objects buried with the deceased, and the inscriptions found in the tomb, all suggest an early 1st century CE date for that burial.
7. (Julia K. Murray, 1980) Attribution changed from Western Han 漢, 2nd century BCE to Han 漢, 206 BCE-220 CE.
8. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, July 8, 2008) "Ceremonial Object" added as secondary classification.
9. (Susan Kitsoulis per Keith Wilson, April 20, 2010) Title changed from "Ritual disk, Bi 璧" to "Disk (bi 璧) with knobs, feline, and dragon."
10. (Susan Kitsoulis per label text from exhibition of Ancient Chinese Jades and Bronzes, Freer Gallery of Art, November 20, 2010) Date changed from "2nd century CE" to "ca. 100--221 CE."
11. (Thomas Lawton, Draft entry for proposed Freer and Sackler collections handbook, August 15, 2001)
Jade bi 璧 disk
Eastern Han 漢 dynasty, 2nd century CE
Height 21.8 cm
When Charles Lang Freer acquired this imposing jade disk in 1916, he believed it dated from the Tang 唐 dynasty (618--907). Subsequent research has shown that Chinese artists produced plain, perforated jade disks, or bi 璧, which purport to have been symbols of heaven, as early as the late Neolithic period (3rd millennium BCE). During the late Zhou 周 and Han 漢 dynasties (5th century BCE--3rd century CE), the flat surfaces of some disks were embellished with geometric raised designs. On a few examples, such as this one, artists extended the round
shape by adding an intertwined dragon and feline which contrast with the simplicity of the original circle and, incidentally, establish a top and bottom to the composition.
12. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, June 8, 2023) Title changed from "Disk (bi) with knobs, feline and dragon" to "Disk (bi) with raised hexagons arranged in a grid, dragon, and feline"; added Chinese Translation by Jingmin Zhang.

Published References

Alfred Salmony. Carved Jade of Ancient China. Berkeley, 1938. pl. 64, no. 1.
Masterpieces of Chinese and Japanese Art: Freer Gallery of Art handbook. Washington, 1976. p. 33.
Christine Minter-Dowd. Finders' Guide to Decorative Arts in the Smithsonian Institution. Finders' Guide to Work in the Smithsonian Institution Washington, 1983-1984. p. 39.
Hai wai i chen [Chinese Art in Overseas Collections]. Taipei, 1985. p. 74.
Thomas Lawton. China's Artistic Legacy. vol. 118, no. 258 London, August 1983. p. 135.
Thomas Lawton, Linda Merrill. Freer: A Legacy of Art. Washington and New York, 1993. p. 229, fig. 162.
Jessica Rawson. Chinese Jades from the Neolithic to the Qing. Exh. cat. London. p. 310, fig. 3.
Edwards Park. Treasures from the Smithsonian Institution., 1st ed. Washington and New York. p. 340.
Joan Hartman-Goldsmith. Early Chinese Jades at the Freer Gallery. vol. 27, no. 4, Winter 1981-1982. pp. 446-449, fig. 6.

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Disk (bi) with raised hexagons arranged in a grid, dragon, and feline

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