Jades for Life and Death

Classification: Jewelry and Ornament

Historical period(s): Late Neolithic period, ca. 3000-1700 BCE

Object Date: ca. 3000-1700 BCE

Medium: Jade (nephrite)

Dimension(s): Diam x D: 13.5 × 1.2 cm (5 5/16 × 1/2 in) Diam (hole): 10.4 cm (4 1/8 in)

Origin: China

Credit Line: Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Collection: Freer Gallery of Art Collection

Accession Number: F1917.58a-d

: 環
新石器時代晚期（公元前5000--1700年）
中國
軟玉
直徑13.5、厚1.2釐米; 孔徑10.4釐米
查爾斯·蘭·佛利爾贈送
器物編號：F1917.58

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. 1145, pg. 259, 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: Narrow ring with wide perforation and flat sides; mottled bright reddish orange speckled with cream-colored strata. (Several chips on rim.)

Acquired with a box, now lost.

Curatorial Remarks

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. 259.

2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: Chinese. Han 漢. See further, S.I. 1145, Appendix VIII (see Paragraph 6).

3. (John Ellerton Lodge, 1921) Han 漢 or earlier.

4. (Isabel Ingram Mayer, 1945) Ch'ing [Qing] 清 dynasty or later reproduction of early type. Comparatively soft material. Color applied (?).

5. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Sp. G. is 2.774.

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

7. (Thomas Lawton, 1978) Attribution changed from Ch'ing [Qing] 清 to Shang 商.

8. (Julia K. Murray, 1982) Compared to Neolithic bangles, F1917.58 has sharper, more crisply defined edges and a glossier polish. Furthermore, the thickness of the wall and the diameter of the hole show only very slight irregularity. The bangle is unusually wide, suggesting that perhaps material from within its circumference was used to make some other artifact. For a discussion of bangles, see Folder Sheet F1917.387.

9. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, May 10, 2016) Period changed from Shang dynasty to Late Neolithic period, with object date changed from ca. 1600-1050 BCE to ca. 3000-1700 BCE.

Published References

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

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