Object: Ornament with raised uniform curls F1916.758

Classification: Jewelry and Ornament

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

Object Date: 475-221 BCE

Medium: Jade (nephrite)

Dimension(s): H x W x D: 25.5 × 8.8 × 0.7 cm (10 1/16 × 3 7/16 × 1/4 in)

Origin: China, Hunan province, Changsha, kingdom of Chu

Credit Line: Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Collection: Freer Gallery of Art Collection

Accession Number: F1916.758

: 凸面規則谷紋飾
東周戰國時期（公元前475-221年）
中國，疑似湖南長沙或原楚國境
軟玉
高3.5、寬24.9、厚0.4釐米
查爾斯·蘭·佛利爾贈送
器物編號：F1916.758

Provenance: To 1916
You Xiaoxi (late 19th–early 20th century), Shanghai, China, 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 Reserved Miscellaneous List, S.I. 1060, p. 237, 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. For price, see Original Miscellaneous list, p. 237.
2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: Han 漢. See further, S.I. 1060, Appendix VIII.
3. (Isabel Ingram Mayer, 1945) This is either a poor specimen of late Chou [Zhou] 周 dynasty workmanship, or a Ch'ing [Qing] 清 reproduction. In either case the work is clumsy; earth incrustations are probably applied. See Folder Sheet F1916.514 for similar piece.
4. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Sp. G. is 2.960. Nephrite.
5. (William B. Trousdale, 1964) Han 漢 dynasty (?). Possibly a crude continuation of a late Chou [Zhou] 周 type, but possibly a more recent reproduction.
6. (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 characteristics of Ch'u [Chu] 楚 taste.
Other related examples in the Freer collection are F1916.758, F1917.372, and F1917.376.
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--661; 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.
7. (Hin-cheung Lovell, 1978) Regarding the Ch'ang sha [Changsha] 長沙 provenance, see Folder Sheet for F1917.376.
8. (Undated Folder Sheet note) See item #8 on F1916.514 for catalogue entry by Thomas Lawton, 1982.
9. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, July 1, 2008) "Jewelry" added as secondary classification.
10. (Susan Kitsoulis per Keith Wilson, July 8, 2010) Object Name changed from "Pendant" to "Jewelry."
11. (Jeffrey Smith per Matthew Clarke, July 8, 2022) Medium changed from "Jade" to "Jade (nephrite)."
12. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, March 29, 2023) Object Name changed from "Jade: huang" to "Fitting; Title changed from "Thin plaque cut in arc of circle, of the type huang" to "Ornament with raised uniform curls"; Period Two added as "Ornament with raised uniform curls"; Date changed from "4th-3rd century BCE" to "475-221 BCE"; and added Chinese caption 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. 99, p. 152.
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. 36.

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