Object: Two-tier tube (cong 琮) with masks F1916.500

Classification: Ceremonial Object

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

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

Object Date: ca. 3300-ca. 2250 BCE

Medium: Jade (nephrite)

Dimension(s): H x W x D: 8.1 x 7.4 x 7.5 cm (3 3/16 x 2 15/16 x 2 15/16 in) Diam (hole): 5.6 cm (2 3/16 in)

Origin: China, Lake Tai region

Credit Line: Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Collection: Freer Gallery of Art Collection

Accession Number: F1916.500

: 人面紋雙節琮
新石器時代晚期良渚文化（公元前3300--2250年）
中國太湖地區
軟玉
高8.1、寬7.4、厚7.5 釐米；孔徑5.6 釐米
查爾斯·蘭·佛利爾贈送
器物編號：F1916.500

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. 1046, pg. 233, 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: Squared, hollow cylinder of the type ts'ung [cong] 琮; low form with projecting collar at both ends, one end wider; mottled light and dark gray with scattered spots of brown, reddish brown, and orange; some white surface alteration in interior; decoration: channeled and incised, grooves and corner ridges, circles and linear designs; tool marks on one collar. (One chip.)

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. 233. $200

2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: Chinese. Hsia [Xia] 夏. See further, S.I. 1046, Appendix VIII.

3. (Archibald Gibson Wenley, 1946) Ch'ing [Qing] 清 dynasty reproduction of Chou [Zhou] 周 type.

4. (Thomas Lawton, 1978) Attribution changed from "Ch'ing [Qing] 清" to "Western Chou [Zhou] 周."

5. (Julia K. Murray, 1982) The band-and-circle decor appears in two registers on ts'ung [cong] 琮 F1916.500. The treatment seems to be a simplification of the mask-like motif found on a few artifacts of the Liang-chu [Liangzhu] 良渚 culture of the East Coast Neolithic (see Folder Sheet F1916.118). The simplified designs are not necessarily later than the full masks, for they occur on tall ts'ung [cong] 琮 excavated from the late Liang-chu [Liangzhu] 良渚 remains in Kiangsu [Jiangsu] 江蘇 province at Wu hsien [Wu xian] 吳縣 Ts'ao-hsieh-shan [Caoxieshan] 草鞋山 (see 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. 12) and Wu-chin [Wujin] 武進 Ssu-tun [Sidun] 寺墩 (see Nanking po-wu-yuan [Nanjing bowuyuan] 南京博物院, "Kiangsu Wu-chin Ssu-tun i-chih te shih-chueh [Jiangsu Wujin Sidun yizhi de shijue] 江蘇武進寺墩遺址的試掘," K'ao-ku [Kaogu] 考古 1981.3, pls. 2:4--5); and in the Shih-hsia [Shixia] 石峽 cultural remains in Kwangtung [Guangdong] 廣東 province at Ch'u-chiang [Qujiang] 曲江 Shih-hsia [Shixia] 石峽 (see Kwangtung sheng po-wu-kuan [Guangdong sheng bowuguan] 廣東省博物館 and Ch'u-chiang hsien wen-hua-chu Shih-hsia fa-chueh hsiao-tsu [Qujiang xian wenhuaju Shixia fajue xiaozu] 曲江縣文化局石峽發掘小組, "Kwangtung Ch'u-chiang Shih-hsia mu-tsang fa-chueh chien-pao [Guangdong Qujiang Shixia muzang fajue jianbao] 廣東曲江石峽墓葬發掘簡報," Wen-wu [Wenwu] 文物 1978.7, p. 15, figs. 31 and 34). For a discussion of tall ts'ung [cong] 琮 with this segmented decor, see Folder Sheet F1916.410.

The eyes on ts'ung [cong] 琮 F1916.500 are single small incised circles and many are barely visible if visible at all.

Attributed changed to Neolithic period, ca. 2000 BCE.

6. (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.

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

8. (Susan Kitsoulis per Keith Wilson, April 20, 2010) Title changed from "Short tube (cong 琮)" to "Tube (cong 琮) with masks."

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. 21.
J. Keith Wilson, Jingmin Zhang. Jades for Life and Death. .

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Two-tier tube (cong 琮) with masks

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