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): Diam x D: 20.5 x 1.2 cm (8 1/16 x 1/2 in)

Origin: China, Lake Tai region, purportedly found in Zhejiang province

Notes: purportedly found in Zhejiang province

Credit Line: Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Collection: Freer Gallery of Art Collection

Accession Number: F1916.502

: 璧
新石器時代晚期良渚文化（公元前3300--2250年）
中國太湖地區，傳浙江出土
軟玉
直徑20.5、厚1.2釐米
查爾斯·蘭·佛利爾贈送
器物編號：F1916.502

Provenance: Possibly excavated in 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 Chekiang."

[2] See Original Miscellaneous List, S.I. 1048, pg. 234, 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)

Curatorial Remarks

1. Bought from Seaouke Yue [You Xiaoxi] 游筱溪, of Shanghai 上海, in New York. Said to have been excavated in Chekiang [Zhejiang] 浙江. For price, see Original Miscellaneous List, p. 234. $150.

2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: Chinese. Shang 商. See further, S.I. 1048, Appendix VIII (see Paragraph 5).

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

4. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Sp. G. is 2.981. Nephrite.

5. (H. Elise Buckman, 1964) The Envelope File contained no further information, and has now been destroyed.

6. (Thomas Lawton, 1978) Attribution changed from Chou [Zhou] 周 to Neolithic. See Folder Sheet for 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 green and brown, almost all altered to grey and creamy white. Biconical hole, drilled off-center, ridge almost at opposite rim; turn marks on wall. Round, with chipped edge. Surface smooth but heavily altered.

(File folder) Perforated disc of the type "bi." Bored from both sides leaving pronounced median ridge. Closely mottled rich shades of green and browns almost hidden by profuse areas of grayish white and milky white incipient disintegration. (Numerous chips on rim.) Box.

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. 23.
J. Keith Wilson, Jingmin Zhang. Jades for Life and Death. .

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Disk (bi 璧)

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