Jades for Life and Death

Classification: Ceremonial Object

Historical period(s): Shang dynasty, ca. 1600-1050 BCE

Object Date: ca. 1600-1050 BCE

Medium: Jade (nephrite)

Dimension(s): H x W x D: 14.8 × 6.2 × 1 cm (5 13/16 × 2 7/16 × 3/8 in) Diam (hole): 1.3 cm (1/2 in)

Origin: China

Credit Line: Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Collection: Freer Gallery of Art Collection

Accession Number: F1917.52

: 斧
商代,公元前1600-1050年
中國
軟玉
高14.8、寬6.2、厚0.6釐米
查爾斯·蘭·佛利爾贈送
器物編號:F1917.52

Provenance: To 1917
Li Wenqing (late 19th-early 20th century), Shanghai, to 1917 [1]

From 1917 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Li Wenqing, in New York, in 1917 [2]

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

Notes:

[1] See Original Miscellaneous List, S.I. 1141, pg. 258, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. See also, Voucher No. 18, December 1916.

[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): Li Wenqing 李文卿 (C.L. Freer source) (ca. 1869-1931)
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

Description: Trapezoidal axe (fu 斧) wider and rounded at the blade; beveled blade and conical perforation; semi translucent, gray green with profuse delicate brown veining, areas of opaque dark brown at both ends; an upper corner chamfered.

Curatorial Remarks

1. Bought from Lee Van Ching [Li Wenqing] 李文卿, of Shanghai, in New York. For price, see Original Miscellaneous List, p. 258. $75.

2. [Undated Folder Sheet note] Original attribution: Han 漢. See further, S.I. 1141, Appendix VIII.

3. (Archibald Gibson Wenley, 1945) Chou [Zhou] 周 dynasty.

4. (Thomas Lawton, 1978) Late Shang 商--early Western Chou [Zhou] 周.

5. (Julia K. Murray, 1980) Attribution is changed from Late Shang 商--Early Western Chou [Zhou] 周 to Shang 商, ca. 1523--1028 BCE.

6. (Julia K. Murray, 1982) For a general discussion of axes see Folder Sheet F1918.35. Axe F1917.52 is similar to a jade axe excavated from the tomb of Fu Hao 婦好 at Anyang 安陽, Honan [Henan] 河南, dateable to the 12th century BCE (reproduced in 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. 84: 1 right).

7. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, July 8, 2008) Tool and Equipment added as secondary classification.

8. (Susan Kitsoulis per Keith Wilson, April 20, 2010) Object name changed from "Axe (fu 斧)" to "Ceremonial object."

9. (Jeffrey Smith per Janet Douglas, June 17, 2010) Nephrite added as modifier to existing medium of "jade" based on conservation analysis.
10. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, January 9, 2020) Added Chinese Caption by Jingmin Zhang; added the following to the Description field, "Trapezoidal axe (fu 斧) wider and rounded at the blade; beveled blade and conical perforation; semi translucent, gray green with profuse delicate brown veining, areas of opaque dark brown at both ends; an upper corner chamfered."

Published References

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

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