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: 16.4 x 1.2 cm (6 7/16 x 1/2 in)

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

Notes: purportedly found at Xiaxi, Huanglin, Zhejiang province

Credit Line: Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Collection: Freer Gallery of Art Collection

Accession Number: F1916.506

: 璧
新石器時代晚期良渚文化（公元前3300--2250年）
中國太湖地區，傳浙江下溪皇林出土
軟玉
直徑16.4、厚1.2釐米
查爾斯·蘭·佛利爾贈送
器物編號：F1916.506

Provenance: Possibly excavated at Huang-ling, Hsiaki, 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 at Huang-ling, Hsiaki, Chekiang."

[2] See Original Miscellaneous List, S.I. 1052, pg. 235, 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: Perforated disk of the type pi [bi] 璧; bored from both sides, leaving median ridge; mottled lime-yellow and pale greens with reddish-brown strata and veinings; profuse cream-colored incipient disintegration in fissures and veinings, of a smooth enamel like texture; surface contours uneven, a saw mark on each side. (Rim broken in several places.)

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. Said to have been excavated in Huang lin [Huanglin] 皇林, Hsiaki [Xiaxi] 下溪, Chekiang [Zhejiang] 浙江. For price, see Original Miscellaneous List, p. 235. $200.

2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: Chinese. Hsia [Xia] 夏. See further, S.I. 1052, Appendix VIII.

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

4. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Sp. G. is 2.924. Decomposition prevents accurate calculation for nephrite.

5. (Thomas Lawton, 1978) Attribution changed from Chou [Zhou] 周 to Neolithic. See Folder Sheet for F1917.19.

6. (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.

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

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

9. (Jeffrey Smith, April 13, 2016) Transferred from Description: (Jenny So, from Jade Project Database) Coarse-grained mottled lime-yellow, pale green, with reddish brown veins. Biconical hole drilled slightly off-center, ledge at meeting point of drill bits. Unevenly round and uneven thickness. Surface worn, pitted, and chipped. Saw mark on one face (curved? straight?).

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. 27.
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. .
J. Keith Wilson, Jingmin Zhang. Jades for Life and Death. .

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Disk (bi 璧)

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