Object: Disk (bi) with raised uniform curls arranged in a grid F1916.510

Classification: Ceremonial Object

Historical period(s): Warring States period, Eastern Zhou dynasty, 475-221 BCE

Object Date: 475-221 BCE

Medium: Jade (nephrite)

Dimension(s): Diam x D: 10 × 0.5 cm (3 15/16 × 3/16 in) Diam (hole): 3.6 cm (1 3/8 in)

Origin: China

Credit Line: Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Collection: Freer Gallery of Art Collection

Accession Number: F1916.510

: 凸面規則網格谷紋璧
東周戰國時期（公元前475--221年）
中國
軟玉
直徑18.6、厚0.5釐米；孔徑4.4釐米
查爾斯·蘭·佛利爾贈送
器物編號：F1916.510

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, NY, 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. 1056, p. 236, 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)

Curatorial Remarks

1. Bought from Seaouke Yue [You Xiaoxi] 游筱溪, of Shanghai 上海, in New York, NY. For price, see Original Miscellaneous list, p. 236.
2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: Chou [Zhou] 周. See further, S.I. 1056, Appendix VIII.
3. (Isabel Ingram Mayer, 1945) Late Chou [Zhou] 周 dynasty. See Alfred Salmony, Carved Jade of Ancient China (Berkeley, CA: Gillick Press, 1938), pl. 37, no. 1. For discussion of type see Folder Sheet F1939.14, note 3.
4. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Sp. G. is 2.916. Decomposition and repair prevent an accurate calculation for nephrite.
5. (Thomas Lawton, 1978) Late Eastern Chou [Zhou] 周, Warring States period.
Of the several pi [bi] 璧 with the common motif in the collection, all dated to the Warring States period, F1916.510, F1919.29 are somewhat earlier than F1917.85, F1917.356, F1917.360 and F1919.32.
6. (Thomas Lawton, Chinese Art of the Warring States Period: Change and Continuity, 480--222 B.C. [Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1982], cat. no. 121) Irregular, light colored opaque areas caused by alteration partially obscure the highly polished surface of the tan-brown nephrite disk. Spirals, modeled in low relief and accented with incised curling lines, are arranged over both surfaces of the disk on a widely spaced grid formation. Raised edges enclosed the inner and outer perimeters of the disk. Sections of the outer rim have been damaged and repaired.
7. (Stephen Allee per Keith Wilson, June 18, 2008) As per Jenny F. So, Jade Project Database, changed Period One from "Eastern Zhou 周 dynasty" to "Zhou 周 dynasty"; changed Date from "4th--3rd century BCE" to "475--221 BCE"; added Description. Also changed Object Name from "Disk (bi 璧)" to "Jewelry (pendant)"; changed Title from "Ritual disk, Bi 璧" to "Pendant in the form of a disk (bi 璧) with raised knobs." Added Dimensions per Christine Lee, from Jade Project Database. Added "Warring States period" to Period Two.
8. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, July 29, 2008) "Jewelry" and "Ornament" added as secondary classification.
9. (Jeffrey Smith per Matthew Clarke, July 8, 2022) Medium changed from "Jade" to "Jade (nephrite)."
10. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, June 6, 2023) Classification changed from "Jewelry and Ornament" to "Ceremonial Object"; Object Name changed from "Pendant" to "Ceremonial object: disk (bi)"; "Title changed from "Pendant in the form of a disk (bi) with raised knobs" to "Disk (bi) with raised uniform curls arranged in a grid"; Period One changed from "Zhou dynasty" to "Eastern Zhou dynasty"; and added Chinese Translation by Jingmin Zhang.

Published References

Thomas Lawton. Chinese Art of the Warring States Period: Change and Continuity, 480-222 B.C. Washington, 1982-1983. cat. 121, p. 170.
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. 31.
Geoffrey WIlls. Jade of the East., 1st ed. New York, 1972. fig. 6.

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Disk (bi) with raised uniform curls arranged in a grid

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