Ornament with raised uniform curls arranged in a grid

1. Bought from Seaouke Yue [You Xiaoxi] 游筱溪, of Shanghai 上海. For price, see Original Miscellaneous list, p. 237.

2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: Han 漢. See further, S.I. 1060, Appendix VIII. See Paragraph 6.

3. (Isabel Ingram Mayer, 1945) This is either a poor quality of late Chou [Zhou] 周 dynasty workmanship, or a Ch'ing [Qing] 清 reproduction. In  either case the workmanship is clumsy, earth incrustations probably applied. See Folder F1916.758 for similar piece.

4. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Sp. G. is 2.962. Nephrite.

5. (William B. Trousdale, 1964) Han 漢 dynasty (?). Possibly a crude continuation of a late Chou [Zhou] 周 type, but possible a more recent reproduction.

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

7. (Thomas Lawton, 1974) Late Eastern Chou [Zhou] 周. The rough material and crude carving technique are characteristic of a number of pieces unearthed during recent years in the People's Republic of China. Those examples have all been found in a Ch'u [Chu] 楚 context, which provides a late Eastern Chou [Zhou] 周 date and suggests that the crudeness of  execution and roughness of design are characteristic of Ch'u [Chu] 楚 taste.  Other related examples in the Freer collection are F1917.376, F1917.372, F1916.758.

See Kuo Te-wei [Guo Dewei] 郭德維 and Liu Pin-wei [Liu Binhui] 劉彬徽, "Hu pei sheng Chiang ling ch'u t'u hu tso niao chia-ku liang-tso Ch'u mu te ch'ing li chien pao [Hubei sheng Jiangling chutu Huzuo niaojiagu liangzuo Chumu de qingli jianbao] 湖北省江陵出土虎座鳥架鼓兩座楚墓的清理簡報,"  Wen wu [Wenwu] 文物 1964. 9, pp. 27--32; Hu-nan-sheng po-wu-kuan [Hunan sheng bowuguan] 湖南省博物館, "Hu nan Ch'ang te Te shan Chan kuo mu ts'ang [Hunan Changde Deshan Zhanguo muzang] 湖南常德德山戰國墓葬," K'ao-ku [Kaogu] 考古 1959. 12,  pp. 658--61; and Hu-pei-sheng wen-wu-chü wen-wu kung-tso-tui [Hubei sheng wenwuju wenwu gongzuodui] 湖北省文物局文物工作隊, "Hu pei Chiang ling san tso Ch'u mu ch'u t'u ta p'i chung yao wen wu [Hubei Jiangling sanzu Chumu chutu dapi zhongyao wenwu] 湖北江陵三座楚墓出土大批重要文物," Wen wu [Wenwu] 文物 1966. 5, pp. 33--55.

8. (Thomas Lawton, Chinese Art of the Warring States Period: Change and Community, 480--222 B.C. [Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1982], cat. no. 99). Fashioned of dark gray-green nephrite, the surfaces of the two plaques (F1916.514 and F1916.758) have areas of earth incrustations that obscure their original polish. Some indication of the high  luster is still evident on the narrow edges of the pieces. Incised low relief spirals are arranged in geometric grids  and enclosed by linear borders that follow the outer contours of the plaques. Enhancing the edges of both pieces are symmetrical crenellations. Each plaque has a small perforation at the top
 center and on the lower flat edge of the arcs. Both plaques are chipped.

The large size and crude workmanship--particularly apparent here in the way the grid lines penetrate the outer borders--relate these two plaques to other jade pieces associated with the state of Ch'u [Chu] 楚 (see cat. nos. 100--101). [1]

[1] See Jan Fontein and Wu Tung, Unearthing China's Past (Boston: Museum of Fina Arts; distributed by New York Graphic Society, Greenwich, Conneticut, 1973), p. 86; Hu-nan-sheng po-wu-kuan [Hunan sheng bowuguan] 湖南省博物館, "Hu nan Ch'ang te Te shan Chan kuo mu ts'ang [Hunan Changde Deshan Zhanguo muzang] 湖南常德德山戰國墓葬," K'ao-ku [Kaogu] 考古 1959.12, p. 660, fig. 5; Kuo Te-wei [Guo Dewei] 郭德維 and Liu Pin-wei [Liu Binhui] 劉彬徽, "Hu pei sheng Chiang ling ch'u t'u hu tso niao chia-ku liang-tso Ch'u mu te ch'ing li chien pao [Hubei sheng Jiangling chutu Huzuo niaojiagu liangzuo Chumu de qingli jianbao] 湖北省江陵出土虎座鳥架鼓兩座楚墓的清理簡報,"  Wen wu [Wenwu] 文物 1964.9, p. 29, fig. 5:5; Ch'u wen-wu chan-lan-hui [Chuwenwu zhanlanhui] 楚文物展覽會, Ch'u wen-wu chan-lan t'u-lu [Chuwenwu zhanlan tulu] 楚文物展覽圖錄 (Beijing: Beijing lishi bowuguan, 1954), pl. 28:54--55.

9. (Najiba Choudhury per Matthew Clarke, December 14, 2021) Medium changed from "Jade" to "Jade (nephrite)".

10. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, March 29, 2023) Title changed from "Thin plaque of the huang" to "Ornament with raised uniform curls arranged in a grid"; Object name changed from "Plaque: huang" to "Fitting"; added Period Two as "Warring States period"; Date changed from "4th-3rd century BCE" to "475-221 BCE"; Geography changed from "China" to "China, probably Hunan province, Changsha, kingdom of Chu"; and added Chinese caption by Jingmin Zhang.