Object: Harvesting knife (hu 笏), fragment F1916.490

Classification: Ceremonial Object

Maker(s): Artist: Longshan culture 龍山 (ca. 3000-ca. 1700 BCE)

Historical period(s): Late Neolithic period, ca. 2000-ca. 1700 BCE

Object Date: ca. 2000-ca. 1700 BCE

Medium: Jade (nephrite)

Dimension(s): H x W x D: 53.7 × 10.3 × 1 cm (21 1/8 × 4 1/16 × 3/8 in)

Origin: China

Credit Line: Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Collection: Freer Gallery of Art Collection

Accession Number: F1916.490

: 笏（殘損）
新石器時代晚期（公元前5000--1700年）
中國
軟玉
高10.3、寬53.7、厚1釐米
查爾斯·蘭·佛利爾贈送
器物編號：F1916.490

Provenance: To 1916
You Xiaoxi, Shanghai, to 1916 [1]

From 1916 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from You Xiaoxi, in New York in 1916 [2]

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

Notes:

[1] See Original Miscellaneous List, S.I. 1036, pg. 230, 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): You Xiaoxi 游篠溪 (C.L. Freer source) (late 19th-early 20th century)
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

Description: Large cleaver shaped object of the type kuei [gui] 圭; one long, beveled cutting edge; three conical perforations near upper edge; handle end notched on sides and sharply pointed, opposite end is diagonal; mottled gray and putty colored with cream strata marks, dark cloudings, and reddish brown area near handle; lustrous surface. (Old chips and rough areas.)

Acquired with a box, now lost.

Past label text: 1. Ancient Chinese Jade, September 4, 1980–March 6, 1981; by Julia K. Murray (shown with F1916.163, F1919.60; Neolithic axe heads and forked blades shown in same case)

Curatorial Remarks

1. Bought from Seaouke Yue [You Xiaoxi] 游筱溪, of Shanghai 上海. For price, see Original Miscellaneous List, p. 230. $500.

2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: Chinese. Hsia [Xia] 夏. See further, S.I. 1036, Appendix VIII.

3. (Isabel Ingram Mayer, 1945) Chou [Zhou] 周 dynasty.

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

5. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Exhibited: The Art Institute of Chicago, Catalogue of a Loan Exhibition of Ancient Chinese Paintings, Sculptures, and Jade Objects from the Collection Formed by Charles Lang Freer (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1917), no. 116.

6. (Thomas Lawton, 1978) Late Shang 商.

7. (Julia K. Murray, 1980) Attribution is changed from Late Shang 商 to Shang 商, 1523--1028 BCE.

8. (Julia K. Murray, 1982) The cutouts at one end of the blade are straighter walled and of a different character from other parts of the overall contour, supporting the possibility that these areas were refinished, perhaps to accommodate a change in the ceremonial use to which the blade was put.

The three holes are all drilled from both sides and are not conical (as stated in the general description).

For a further discussion see F1917.24.

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

10. (Susan Kitsoulis per Keith Wilson, April 2, 2010) Object name changed from "Weapon: knife" to "Ceremonial object"; title changed from "Large cleaver shaped object of the type kuei [gui] 圭" to "Harvesting knife (hu 笏), fragment."

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

12. (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.

Published References

You Xiaoxi, Hsiao-chi Yu in, Chi-Tseng Chang. "游筱溪." Masterpieces of Chinese National Art: The Collection of Mr. Seaouke'e Yue. Shanghai, 1916. no. 12.
J. Keith Wilson, Jingmin Zhang. Jades for Life and Death. .

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Harvesting knife (hu 笏), fragment

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