Object: Decorative fitting for an ornamental comb F1916.628

Classification: Jewelry and Ornament

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): H x W x D: 3.5 x 6.6 x 0.4 cm (1 3/8 x 2 9/16 x 1/8 in)

Origin: China, Lake Tai region

Credit Line: Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Collection: Freer Gallery of Art Collection

Accession Number: F1916.628

: 梳背飾
新石器時代晚期良渚文化（公元前3300--2250年）
中國太湖地區
軟玉
高3.5、寬6.6釐米、厚0.4釐米
查爾斯·蘭·佛利爾贈送
器物編號：F1916.628

Provenance: To 1916
Wang Jiantang, Shanghai to 1916 [1]

From 1916 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Wang Jiantang in 1916 [2]

From 1920
The Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]

Notes:

[1] See Reserved Miscellaneous List, R. 6608, pg. 14, 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): Wang Jiantang 王鑑堂 (C.L. Freer source) (late 19th-early 20th century)
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

Description: Ornament; thin flat pendant of irregular shape; two notches in base, upper edge fluted; two perforations; semitranslucent, mottled yellowish green and tan; almost covered with earth encrustation. (Tool marks and chip on one surface.)

Acquired with a box, now lost.

Past label text: 1. Studies in Connoisseurship: 1923–1983, September 23, 1983–March 1, 1984; by Julia K. Murray (shown with F1917.382, F1916.511, F1917.380; additional jades organized by types shown in same case)

Like many of the ancient jades bought by Charles Lang Freer, these rings were originally attributed to the Chou [Zhou] 周 dynasty. On the basis of recent archaeological finds, they are now thought to date to the late Neolithic period. Rings with tall, slightly concave walls are found among Neolithic remains in various parts of China, often made of other kinds of polished stone, ivory, and pottery, in addition to jade. Two of the present examples are unusual because of their decoration.

One of them (F1917.385) has two emblems lightly incised on the outer wall 180 degrees apart. One of these is a motif suggesting the crescent moon surmounted by the sun, a device also found on a large ritual pottery wine jar that was excavated from remains of the late phase of the Ta wen k'ou [Dawenkou] 大汶口 culture in Shantung [Shandong] 山東 province, attributed to the late 3rd millennium BCE. The same motif appears as part of a larger design incised on a Neolithic pi [bi] 璧 disk in this case (F1917.348). The other design incised on the ring is larger and more elaborate, resembling outstretched wings containing eyes. Hayashi Minao 林巳奈夫 has related the general contour of this motif to a kind of angular plaque found in remains of the Liang chu [Liangzhu] 良渚 culture in east Coastal China (see F1916.628 and F1917.382) and has traced its ultimate origins to a design carved on several artifacts of the Ho mu tu [Hemudu] 河姆渡 culture (radiocarbon dated to ca. 5000 BCE). However, in the absence of conclusive evidence, the interpretation of both emblems remains a tantalizing problem.

The second ring (F1919.46) is unusual in having the outer surface covered with abstract meander patterns resembling basketry designs. In shape and proportions, this ring most resembles one found in the lower strata at Shih hsia [Shixia] 石峽, chu chiang [Zhujiang] 珠江, in Kwangtung [Guangdong] 廣東 province.

2. Ancient Chinese Art, May 9, 1993–May 18, 1998; by Jenny F. So (shown with F1917.141, F1916.511, F1919.46, F1917.43)
Headdress ornament
China, Liangzhu 良渚 culture
Neolithic period, ca. 3000–2500 BCE
Jade (nephrite)

This ornament has a distinctive geometric outline but an unadorned surface. Small holes were drilled in the jade for attaching the ornament to a leather or fabric back.

Curatorial Remarks

1. Bought from K. T. Wong [Wang Jiantang] 王鑑堂, Shanghai 上海. For price, see R. 6608, Reserved Miscellaneous List, p. 14. $15.

2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: Chinese, Han 漢. See above reference.

3. (John Ellerton Lodge, 1928) Late Chou [Zhou] 周.

4. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Sp. G. is 2.946. Surface alteration and incrustation prevent a more accurate calculation for nephrite.

5. (Isabel Ingram Mayer, 1946) See F1917.382 for piece of somewhat similar shape.

6. (William B. Trousdale, 1964) Chou [Zhou] 周 dynasty. Object of unknown use. Surface decomposition. Probably early Eastern Chou [Zhou] 周. See also related pieces, F1917.382 and F1912.52.

7. (Thomas Lawton, 1978) See Folder Sheet for F1917.382.

For a similar jade ornament unearthed from a Liang chu [Liangzhu] 良渚 culture site in the Hangchou [Hangzhou] 杭州 Bay region of Chekiang [Zhejiang] 浙江 province, see Ch'en Tso fu [Chen Zuofu] 陳左夫, "Liang-chu ku-yu t'an-t'ao [Liangzhu guyu tantao] 良渚古玉探討," K'ao ku t'ung hsun [Kaogu tongxun] 考古通訊 1957.2, pl. 12:18. Although the Liang chu [Liangzhu] 良渚 culture is primarily a Neolithic culture, considered part of the Lung shan [Longshan] 龍山 Neolithic culture, the sites in the region also yielded later artifacts, including Chou [Zhou] 周 and Han 漢 jades.

8. (Julia K. Murray, 1980) Attribution is changed from Western Chou [Zhou] 周 to Neolithic or early Shang 商, late 2nd millennium BCE.

9. (Julia K. Murray, 1982) A plaque very similar in shape to F1916.628 was excavated from a site of the late phase of the Liang chu [Liangzhu] 良渚 culture of the east coast Neolithic period at Chiang ning [Jiangning] 江寧 Tsan miao [Zanmiao] 昝廟, Kiangsu [Jiangsu] 江蘇 province (Nanking po-wu-yuan [Nanjing bowuyuan] 南京博物院, "Kiangsu Wu-chin Ssu-tun i-chih de shih-chue [Jiangsu Wujin Sidun yizhi de shijue] 江蘇武進寺墩遺址的試掘," K'ao ku [Kaogu] 考古 1981.3, p. 197, fig. 7). It differs from the Freer piece in that its surface is decorated with a face like mask (similar to that found on Freer ts'ung [cong] 琮 F1916.118 and F1917.384, and plaques F1917.380 and F1916.511). Other plaques of slightly different proportions (more like Freer plaque F1917.382) were excavated from Liang chu [Liangzhu] 良渚 sites at Wu chin [Wujin] 武進 Ssu tun [Sidun] 寺墩 and Wu hsien [Wu xian] 吳縣 Chang ling shan [Zhanglingshan] 張陵山, both in Kiangsu [Jiangsu] 江蘇 province (Nanking po-wu-yuan [Nanjing bowuyuan] 南京博物院, "Kiangsu Wu-chin Ssu-tun i-chih de shih-chue [Jiangsu Wujin Sidun yizhi te shijue] 江蘇武進寺墩遺址的試掘," K'ao ku [Kaogu] 考古 1981.3, p. 196). These finds make it likely that the plaque published in Ch'en Tso fu [Chen Zuofu] 陳左夫, "Liang-chu ku-yu t'an-t'ao [Liangzhu guyu tantao] 良渚古玉探討," K'ao ku t'ung hsun [Kaogu tongxun] 考古通訊 1957.2, pl. 12:18, discussed by Lawton above, also belongs to the Neolithic and not to a later period.

Hayashi Minao 林巳奈夫 has suggested that the shape of the angular type of plaque is descended from that represented by butterfly shaped objects made of wood that were found in remains of the Ho mu tu [Hemudu] 河姆渡 culture on the south shore of the Hangchow [Hangzhou] 杭州 Bay in Chekiang [Zhejiang] 浙江 province. These finds, which include the earliest evidence for rice cultivation in China, have been carbon dated to 5000 BCE. See Hayashi Minao 林巳奈夫, "Ryōsho bunka no gyokki jakkano megutte 良渚文化の玉器若干をめぐって = Jade of the Liang-chu Culture," Museum 360 (1981), pp. 22--33.

Attribution changed from Neolithic or early Shang 商 to Neolithic, late 2nd millennium BCE.

10. Exhibition Studies in Connoisseurship: 1923--1983 label text; moved to label field.

11. (Undated Folder Sheet note) See F1916.118, no. 8.

12. (Stephen Allee per Keith Wilson, February 8, 2008) On this date entered: Period One (Late Neolithic period), Date (3300--2250 BCE), Artist (Liangzhu 良渚 culture), Geographical region (Lake Tai 太湖 region); plus Dimensions per Christine Lee, from Jade Project Database.

13. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, July 1, 2008) Jewelry added as secondary classification.

14. (Susan Kitsoulis per Keith Wilson, May 24, 2010) Changed object name from "Pendant" to "Jewelry."

15. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, August 19, 2016) Title changed from "Pendant" to "Decorative fitting for an ornamental comb"; added description, past label text, and translation.

Published References

Minao Hayashi. Jade of the Liang-chu Culture. no. 360 Tokyo, March 1981. fig. 15.
J. Keith Wilson, Jingmin Zhang. Jades for Life and Death. .
Julia Murray. Neolithic Chinese Jades in the Freer Gallery of Art. vol. 14, no. 11 Hong Kong, November 1983. p. 17.
Elizabeth Childs-Johnson, Fang Gu. Yuqi shidai: Meiguo bowuguan cang Zhongguo zaoqi yuqi [The Jade Age: Early Chinese Jades in American Museums]. Beijing, 2009. p. 57.

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Decorative fitting for an ornamental comb

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