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.
 
2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: Han 漢. See further, S.I. 1131, Appendix VIII.
 
3. (Archibald Gibson Wenley, 1945) Ch'ing [Qing] 清 dynasty workmanship.
 
4. (Thomas Lawton, 1978) Attribution changed from "Ch'ing [Qing] 清" to "Late Shang 商."
 
5. (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 林巳奈夫, "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 the tomb of Fu Hao 婦好 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] 三里墩, 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 [Nagoyashi: Nagoyashi Hakubutsukan, 1981], cat. 40).
 
6. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, July 17, 2008) Ceremonial object added as secondary classification.
 
7. (Susan Kitsoulis per Keith Wilson, April 20, 2010) Object name changed from "Cong 琮" to "Ceremonial object." Title changed from "Cong 琮" to "Tube (cong 琮)."

8. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, January 27, 2020) Title changed from "Tube (cong)" to "Tube (cong 琮)"; Period One changed from "Shang dynasty" to "Shang or Western Zhou dynasty"; Date changed from "ca. 1600-1050 BCE" to "ca. 1600-ca. 771 BCE"; and added Chinese Caption by Jingmin Zhang.

Removed the following from the Description field, "Squared hollow cylinder of the type "tsung;" chocolate brown finely mottled with gray. Smooth surface. (Two old cracks and some smoothed chips). Serpentine. Box."

Added the following to the Description field, "Squared hollow cylinder of the type ts’ung [cong] 琮; chocolate brown, finely mottled with gray. Smooth surface. (Two old cracks and some smoothed chips.) Serpentine. Acquired with a box, now lost."