Disk (bi 璧)

1. Bought from Seaouke Yue [You Xiaoxi] 游筱溪, Shanghai 上海, in New York. For price, see Original Miscellaneous List, p. 233. $400.

2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: Chinese. Chou [Zhou] 周. See further, S.I. 1047, Appendix VIII.

3. (Isabel Ingram Mayer, 1945) Chou [Zhou] 周 dynasty pi [bi] 璧 with incised decoration of mediocre quality added at a later date. Conical perforation also looks tampered with and median ridge obliterated, leaving irregular margin.

4. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Sp. G. is 2.990. Nephrite.

5. (Thomas Lawton, 1978) This pi [bi] 璧 resembles many of the Western Chou [Zhou] 周 pi [bi] 璧 in the collection, specifically in its proportions, its dark mottled material, and its slightly concave rim. The last feature relates it particularly to F19 17.79, F1917.346, and F1917.348, three pi [bi] 璧 with a similar slight concave rim whose incised designs enable them to be dated securely to the Western Chou [Zhou] 周. Unlike the decoration on these three pi [bi] 璧, the design on F1916.501 was executed much later, probably in the Ch'ing [Qing] 清 dynasty.

6. (Julia K. Murray, 1983) The attribution is changed from Western Chou [Zhou] 周 to Neolithic, ca. 2000 BCE. For a discussion of pi [bi] 璧 see Folder Sheet F1917.19.

7. (Stephen Allee per Keith Wilson, February 5, 2008) On this date entered: Period One (Late Neolithic period), Date (ca. 5000--ca. 1700 BCE), Artist (Liangzhu 良渚 culture), Title, Object name, Geographical region (Lake Tai 太湖 region); plus Description per Jenny F. So and Dimensions per Christine Lee, from Jade Project Database.

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

9. (Jeffrey Smith, April 11, 2016) Transferred from Description: (Jenny So, from Jade Project Database) Mottled olive green and brown. Biconical hole, centered, interior walls ground smooth to convex profile. Unevenly round and thick; vertical outer edge gently concave. Surface even, with incised decoration (Qing period addition).

(File folder) Perforated disc of the type "bi." Mottled shades of olive green and brown with spots of translucent strata in lighter tones. Surface dull and weathered. Incised decoration alike on both sides depicts phoenix (?) and plant forms and a bovine-like mask. Outer edge grooved. (Small blemishes and cracks, rough area on rim where whitish disintegrated portion has been partly removed, narrowing the margin). Box.

10. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, April 21, 2020) Added "Qing dynasty" as a keyword.