Object: Harvesting knife (hu 笏), fragment F1916.417

Classification: Ceremonial Object

Historical period(s): Late Neolithic period, ca. 5000-ca. 1700 BCE

Object Date: ca. 5000-ca. 1700 BCE

Medium: Jade (nephrite)

Dimension(s): H x W x D: 42.7 × 10.9 × 0.5 cm (16 13/16 × 4 5/16 × 3/16 in)

Origin: China

Credit Line: Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Collection: Freer Gallery of Art Collection

Accession Number: F1916.417

: 笏（殘損）
新石器時代晚期（公元前5000--1700年）
軟玉
高10.9、寬42.7、厚0.5釐米
查爾斯·蘭·佛利爾贈送
器物編號：F1916.417

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. 1034, pg. 229, 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: Ceremonial implement; long, thin, trapezoidal blade form with sharp, beveled cutting edge; three conical perforations near upper edge, smaller one below; short ends diagonal; translucent, mottled light blue and greenish gray with brown and black markings, brown area at one end with red veinings; irregularly cut. (Breaks, chips on edges.)

Acquired with a box, now lost.

Curatorial Remarks

1. Bought from Lai Yuan and Company 來遠公司, New York. For price, see Original Miscellaneous List, p. 229. $400.

2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: Chinese. Han 漢. See further, S.I. 1034, Appendix VIII.

3. (Archibald Gibson Wenley, 1946) Shang 商 dynasty. For discussion of type, see folder F1916.244, note 3 (Carl Whiting Bishop).

4. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Sp. G. is 2.914.

5. (Thomas Lawton, 1978) This blade is a slice from a thicker blade.

6. (Julia K. Murray, 1982) This large and very thin blade has sharp, ragged edges that give the appearance of incomplete trimming of the outer contours. The side that was sliced has been left unrepolished, as is the case with most jades that were longitudinally sliced.

For a further discussion see F1917.24.

7. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, July 8, 2008) Weapon and Armament added as secondary classification.

8. (Susan Kitsoulis per Keith Wilson, April 2, 2010) Object name changed from "Weapon: knife" to "Ceremonial object"; title from "Ceremonial implement" to "Harvesting knife (hu 笏), fragment."

9. (Jeffrey Smith per Janet Douglas, June 17, 2010) Nephrite added as modifier to existing medium of "jade" based on conservation analysis.

10. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, April 21, 2016) Period changed from Shang dynasty with object date ca. 1600-1050 BCE to Late Neolithic period, with object date ca. 5000-ca.1700 BCE.
11. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, April 21, 2020) Removed "Longshan culture" from the artist constituent. Removed the keyword "Shang Dynasty" and added "Late Neolithic Period."

Published References

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

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Harvesting knife (hu 笏), fragment

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