Jades for Life and Death

Classification: Ceremonial Object

Maker(s): Artist: Liangzhu culture 良渚 (ca. 3300-ca. 2250 BCE)

Historical period(s): Late Neolithic period, ca. 3300-2250 BCE

Object Date: ca. 3300-2250 BCE

Medium: Jade (nephrite)

Dimension(s): H x W x D: 12 × 16.3 × 0.7 cm (4 11/16 × 6 7/16 × 1/4 in)

Origin: China, Lake Tai region

Credit Line: Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Collection: Freer Gallery of Art Collection

Accession Number: F1916.498

: 斧
新石器時代晚期良渚文化（公元前3300--2250年）
中國太湖地區，傳浙江下溪出土
軟玉
高16.3、寬12、厚1.4釐米
孔徑1.5釐米
查爾斯·蘭·佛利爾贈送
器物編號：F1916.498

Provenance: Possibly excavated in Hsia-hsi, Chekiang [1]

To 1916
You Xiaoxi, Shanghai, to 1916 [2]

From 1916 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from You Xiaoxi, in New York in 1916 [3]

From 1920
Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [4]

Notes:

[1] According to Curatorial Remark 1 in the object record, this object was "said to have been excavated in Hsia-hsi, Chekiang."

[2] See Original Miscellaneous List, S.I. 1044, pg. 232, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

[3] See note 2.

[4] 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: Axe of the type fu 斧; rounded blade edge and gently curved sides; perforation bored from both sides leaving median ridge; one surface is mottled yellow and orange with areas and veins of incipient disintegration; opposite surface is pale olive tan with profuse white decomposition. (Corner broken.)

Acquired with a box, now lost.

Past label text: Liangzhu 良渚 and its Legacy, November 4, 2010–January 3, 2016; by Keith Wilson (shown with F1919.39, F1998.4, F1916.512, F1968.48; bronze and jade halberds and jade forked blades shown in same case)
Axe
China, Late Neolithic period, Liangzhu 良渚 culture, ca. 3300–2250 BCE
Jade (nephrite)

Functional tools and weapons, such as axes (fu 斧), forked blades (zhang 璋), and halberds (ge 戈), inspired ceremonial forms that probably served as symbols of power. Typically made too thin for actual farming, hunting, or warfare, these luxury objects were also made too large for practical use but are quite suitable for display. Bored holes indicate where the blades may have been attached to perpendicular shafts as handles.

2. (Keith Wilson, "Afterlife: Ancient Chinese Jades," Gallery 19, Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Oct. 14, 2017 to Apr 15, 2018)

Jade (nephrite)
China, Liangzhu culture, late Neolithic period (ca. 3300–2250 BCE)
Gift of Charles Lang Freer F1916.498

From Weapons to Emblems
These tools and weapons look like real axes (fu), halberds (ge), and other practical items, but in fact they are purely symbols of power. Made of brittle jade with a remarkably thin edge, the items were intended only for display.

The custom of making ceremonial jades that look like familiar objects continued well after the Neolithic period. The thin, forked blades at the top and the halberds below them are not found in Liangzhu burials. They instead represent innovations associated with later cultures to the north, west, and southwest.

Curatorial Remarks

1. Bought from Seaouke Yue [You Xiaoxi] 游筱溪, of Shanghai 上海, in New York. For price, see Original Miscellaneous List, p. 232. $250. Said to have been excavated in Hsia hsi [Xiaxi] 下溪, Chekiang [Zhejiang] 浙江. $250.

2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: Chinese. Hsia [Xia] 夏. See further, S.I. 1044, Appendix VIII.

3. (John Ellerton Lodge, 1929) Chou [Zhou] 周.

4. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Sp. G. is 2.879.

5. (Archibald Gibson Wenley, 1945) Chou [Zhou] 周 dynasty.

6. (Thomas Lawton, 1978) Early Western Chou [Zhou] 周, 11th--10th century BCE.

7. (Julia K. Murray, 1980) Attribution is changed from Early Western Chou [Zhou] 周, 11th--10th century BCE, to Neolithic, ca. 2000 BCE.

8. (Julia K. Murray, 1982) Change from ca. 2000 BCE to 3rd millennium BCE. Changed first sentence of description and changed measurements. Axes similar to F1916.498 have been excavated in China in Neolithic remains belonging to the Liang chu [Liangzhu] 良渚 culture in Chekiang [Zhejiang] 浙江 and Kiangsu [Jiangsu] 江蘇, dated to the 3rd millennium BCE. See the following examples for comparison: stone axe found at Ch'ien shan yang [Qianshanyang] 錢山漾, Wu hsing [Wuxing] 吳興, Chekiang [Zhejiang] 浙江 (reproduced in introductory pamphlet to the Museum of Chinese History, 1980, p. 6); stone axe found near Liang chu [Liangzhu] 良渚, Chekiang [Zhejiang] 浙江 (reproduced in Ch'en Tso fu [Chen Zuofu] 陳左夫, "Liang-chu ku-yu t'an-t'ao [Liangzhu guyu tantao] 良渚古玉探討," K'ao ku t'ung hsun [Kaogu tongxun] 考古通訊 1957.2, pl. 11:2); and jade axe found in tomb M198 in level 2 at Ts'ao hsieh shan [Caoxieshan] 草鞋山, Wu hsien [Wu xian] 吳縣, Kiangsu [Jiangsu] 江蘇 (reproduced in Nanking po-wu-yuan [Nanjing bowuyuan] 南京博物院, "Kiangsu Wu-hsien Ts'ao-hsieh-shan i-chih [Jiangsu Wu xian Caoxieshan yizhi] 江蘇吳縣草鞋山遺址," Wen wu tzu liao ts'ung k'an [Wenwu ziliao congkan] 文物資料叢刊 3 [1980], p. 20, fig. 62). An unprovenanced jade axe that also resembles F1916.498 is in the British Museum (1937,0416.16, reproduced in Jessica Rawson and John Ayers, Chinese Jade throughout the Ages: An Exhibition organized by the Arts Council of Great Britain and the Oriental Ceramic Society [London: Oriental Ceramic Society, 1975], cat. 2). For a general discussion of jade axes, see Folder Sheet F1918.35.

9. (Stephen Allee per Keith Wilson, February 5, 2008) On this date entered: Period One (Late Neolithic period), Date (3300--2250 BCE), Artist (Liangzhu 良渚 culture), Title, Object name, Geographical region (Lake Tai 太湖 region); plus Dimensions per Christine Lee, from Jade Project Database.

10. (Stephen Allee, May 29, 2008) Added designation "nephrite" to Medium as per Elisabeth West Fitzhugh in February 1956, as determined by x ray diffraction.

11. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, July 17, 2008) Ceremonial object added as secondary classification.

12. (Jeffrey Smith, April 1, 2016) Transferred from Description: Rounded blade edge and gently curved sides. Perforation bored from both sides leaving median ridge. One surface is mottled yellow and orange with areas and veins of incipient disintegration; opposite surface is pale olive tan with profuse white decomposition. (Corner broken) Box.

Published References

Frederick William Gookin. Catalogue of a Loan Exhibition of Ancient Chinese Paintings, Sculptures and Jade Objects from the Collection formed by Charles Lang Freer, and Given by Him to the Nation through the Smithsonian Institution, Exhibition November 15 to December 8, 1917. Exh. cat. Chicago, November 15 - December 8, 1917. No. 97, p. 46.
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. 19.
J. Keith Wilson, Jingmin Zhang. Jades for Life and Death. .
Julia Murray. Neolithic Chinese Jades in the Freer Gallery of Art. vol. 14, no. 11 Hong Kong, November 1983. p. 22.

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