Tube (cong 琮)

• 1. Bought from Lee Van Ching [Li Wenqing] 李文卿 of Shanghai 上海, in New York. For price, see Original Miscellaneous List, p. 254. $40

  2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: Chinese. Han 漢. See further, S.I. 1130, Appendix VIII (see Paragraph 5).

  3. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Sp. G. is 2.898.

  4. (Archibald Gibson Wenley, 1946) Chou [Zhou] 周 dynasty (?)

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

  6. (Thomas Lawton, 1973) The following information was carved on the box in which this object arrived: "Han ts'ung [cong] 漢琮."

  7. (Thomas Lawton, 1978) Attribution changed from "Chou [Zhou] 周 (?)" to "Late Shang 商."

  8. (Julia K. Murray, 1982) The small ts'ung [cong] 琮 with plain, smoothly polished walls is one of the shapes found in the late Shang 商 jade repertoire. The type is represented in the Freer collection by the following: F1917.41, F1917.42, F1917.69, F19 17.74, and F1917.75. In contrast to the tall Neolithic ts'ung [cong] 琮 with horizontal and vertical segments adorning the outer walls, the low Shang 商 ts'ung [cong] 琮 is broader than it is tall, and its walls are undecorated.

  Comparable ts'ung [cong] 琮 have been excavated at the following: Pao-te-hsien [Baode xian] 保德縣, Shansi [Shanxi] 山西 province--2 ts'ung [cong] 琮 found inside a bronze yu [you] 卣 vessel (Wu Chen-lu [Wu Zhenlu] 吳振錄, "Pao-te hsien hsin fa-hsien te Yin-tai ch'ing-t'ung-ch'I [Baode xian xinfaxian de Yindai qingtongqi] 保德縣新發現的殷代青銅器," Wen-wu [Wenwu] 文物 1972.4, p. 66, fig. 13); Su-fu-t'un [Sufutun] 蘇埠屯, I-tu-hsien [Yidu xian] 益都縣 Shantung [Shandong] 山東 province (Shantung sheng po-wu-kuan [Shandong sheng bowuguan] 山東省博物館, "Shantung I-tu Su-fu-t'un ti i-hao nu-li hsun-tsang-mu [Shandong Yidu Sufutun diyihao nuli xunzangmu] 山東益都蘇埠屯第--號奴隸殉葬墓," Wen-wu [Wenwu] 文物 1972.8, p. 29, fig. 32); Hou-chia-chuang [Houjiazhuang] 侯家莊, Anyang 安陽 Honan [Henan] 河南 province--2 fragmentary stone ts'ung [cong] 琮 found in Tomb 1001 (Hayashi Minao, "Chūgoku kodai no saigyoku, zuigyoku 中國古代の祭玉, 瑞玉 = Ceremonial Jades of Ancient China," Toho Gakuho 東方學報 40 [1969], p. 288, fig. 66, nos. 2 and 3); and tomb of Fu Hao at Anyang 安陽 (Chung-kuo she-hui k'e-hsueh-yuan k'ao-ku yen-chiu-suo [Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu yanjiusuo] 中國社會科學院考古研究所, Yin-hsu Fu Hao mu [Yinxu Fuhao mu] 殷墟婦好墓 [Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1980], pl. 81, no. 3 and pl. 82, no. 4).

  Small, plain ts'ung [cong] 琮 have also been found in an Eastern Chou [Zhou] 周 context. One that was found in 1963 at San-li-tun [Sanlidun] 三裏墩, Lien-shui-hsien [Lianshui xian] 漣水縣 in Kiangsu [Jiangsu] 江蘇 province, may have been an "antique" in the Eastern Chou [Zhou] 周 period; a gold-and-silver-inlaid bronze stand made to its proportions was found with it (see reproduction in Nanking po-wu-yuan [Nanjing bowuyuan] 南京博物院, Chūka Jinmin Kyōwakoku Nankin Hakubutsuin ten 中華人民共和國南京博物院展 = Art Treasures from the Nanjing Museum [Nagoya-shi: Nagoya-shi Hakubutsukan, 1981], cat. 40).

  9. (Stephen Allee per Keith Wilson, May 29, 2008) changed title from "Cong 琮" to "Short tube (cong 琮)"; changed Object Name from "Cong 琮" to "Ceremonial object." Added designation "nephrite" to Medium as per Wen Guang 聞廣, June 1997, as determined by infrared spectroscopy; added Dimensions per Christine Lee, from Jade Project Database.

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

  11. (Susan Kitsoulis per Keith Wilson, April 20, 2010) Title changed from "Short tube (cong 琮)" to "Tube (cong琮)," change period from "Shang 商 dynasty" to "Late Neolithic period," added artist constituent "Qijia 齊家 Culture." Changed geographical location from "China" to "Northwest China."
  

Draft catalogue entry for F1917.41; by Jenny F. So (2003)

Cong 琮 bracelet?
Shang 商 period, late 2nd millennium BCE
Northwest China, middle of Yellow River basin
Nephrite, dark gray-green with large and distinct tan and ivory patches
Height 4.20--4.40 cm; dimensions at top 5.45 × 5.55 cm; at bottom 5.38 × 5.46 cm; diameter of opening 4.33--4.54 cm
Purchased from Lee Van Ching [Li Wenqing] 李文卿, Shanghai 上海
F1917.41

This cong 琮 shaped object differs from F1917.142, possibly another Qijia 齊家 example, in its relatively soft and rounded profile. The corners seem to grow organically from the walls. Where they meet the collar, they do so in fluid curves rather than sharp plane changes. Its profile is blocky, and the circular collar appears to have emerged from the removal of a triangular section at the corners. Its opening is unusually small; too small, in fact for a fist to pass through unless it is a small child's.

Similar small cong 琮 have come from Shang 商 sites from Shandong 山東 in the east through Henan 河南 and Shanxi 山西 provinces, and often in rather isolated contexts so that it is difficult to give it a more precise provenance.[1] However, its material closely resembles that used for disks associated with northwest China (see disks S1987.743, S1987.924) so that a similar provenance might be suggested.

[1] See discussion in Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing (London: British Museum Press, 1995), no. 7:3, and Hayashi Minao 林巳奈夫, Chūgoku kogyoku no kenkyū 中國古玉の研究 (Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kōbunkan, 1991), in relation to figs. 3-32, 3-33--35.

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