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: 18.6 x 1 cm (7 5/16 x 3/8 in)

Origin: China, Lake Tai region, purportedly found at Anxi, Zhejiang province

Notes: purportedly found at Anxi, Zhejiang province

Credit Line: Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Collection: Freer Gallery of Art Collection

Accession Number: F1916.504

: 璧
新石器時代晚期良渚文化（公元前3300--2250年）
中國太湖地區，傳浙江安溪出土
軟玉
直徑18.6、厚1釐米
查爾斯·蘭·佛利爾贈送
器物編號：F1916.504

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. 1050, 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: Perforated disk of the type pi [bi] 璧; bored mostly from one side; mottled light to dark shades of brown with scattered spots of greenish translucent strata; profuse grayish coating of disintegration, especially in veins and breaks; proportions and surface contours uneven. (Rim and some surface areas roughened with chips and cracks.)

Acquired with a box, now lost.

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. 234. $200.

2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: Chinese. Shang 商. See further, S.I. 1050, Appendix VIII.

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

4. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Sp. G. is 2.955. Decomposition prevents accurate calculation for nephrite.

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. 113.

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 per Janet Douglas, June 17, 2010) Nephrite added as modifier to existing medium of "jade" based on conservation analysis.

10. (Jeffrey Smith, April 12, 2016) Transferred from Description: 1(Jenny So, from Jade Project Database) Mottled light and dark brown with greenish patches. Biconical hole, drilled off-center, ridge almost at opposite rim. Unevenly round and thick. Surface uneven, with curved slice marks on one/both faces.

(File folder) Perforated disc of the type "bi." Bored mostly from one side. Mottled light to dark shades of brown with scattered spots of greenish translucent strata; profuse grayish coating of disintegration especially in veins and breaks. Proportions and surface contours uneven. (Rim and some surface areas roughened with chips and cracks). Box. Neg. No. H376B5.

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. 113, p. 48.
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. 25.
J. Keith Wilson, Jingmin Zhang. Jades for Life and Death. .

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Disk (bi 璧)

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