Jades for Life and Death

Classification: Ceremonial Object

Maker(s): Artist: Liangzhu culture 良渚 (ca. 3300-ca. 2250 BCE)

Historical period(s): Late Neolithic period, ca. 3300-2250 BCE

Object Date: ca. 3300-2250 BCE

Medium: Jade (nephrite)

Dimension(s): Diam x D: 17.7 x 1.3 cm (6 15/16 x 1/2 in)

Origin: China, Lake Tai region

Credit Line: Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Collection: Freer Gallery of Art Collection

Accession Number: F1917.67

: 璧
新石器時代晚期良渚文化（公元前3300--2250年）
中國太湖地區
軟玉
直徑17.7、厚1.3釐米
查爾斯·蘭·佛利爾贈送
器物編號：F1917.67

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. 1154, pg. 264, 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: Perforated disk of the type pi [bi] 璧; bored from both sides, leaving median ridge; mottled bright shades of yellow and orange brown; profuse silvery area of incipient disintegration; strata running in thin layers, most noticeable on the rim where some have chipped off from erosion and decomposition. (Many rough and chipped areas on rim and surface.)

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. 264. $300.

2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: Chinese. Chou [Zhou] 周. See further, S.I. 1154, Appendix VIII.

3. (Isabel Ingram Mayer, 1945) Chou [Zhou] 周 dynasty.

4. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Sp. G. is 2.881. Erosion and decomposition prevent a more accurate calculation for nephrite.

5. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Exhibited: The Art Institute of Chicago, Catalogue of a Loan Exhibition of Ancient Chinese Paintings, Sculptures, and Jade Objects from the Collection Formed by Charles Lang Freer (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1917), no. 93.

6. (Thomas Lawton, 1978) Attribution changed from Chou [Zhou] 周 to Neolithic. See Folder Sheet for F1917.19.

7. (Stephen Allee per Keith Wilson, February 8, 2008) On this date entered: Period One (Late Neolithic period), Date (ca. 5000--ca. 1700 BCE), Artist (Liangzhu 良渚 culture), Title, Object name, Geographical region (Lake Tai 太湖 region); plus Description per Jenny F. So and Dimensions per Christine Lee, from Jade Project Database.

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

9. (Jeffrey Smith per Janet Douglas, June 17, 2010) Nephrite added as modifier to existing medium of "jade" based on conservation analysis.

10. (Jeffrey Smith, April 12, 2016) Transferred from Description: (Jenny So, from Jade Project Database) Mottled yellow and orange-brown. Biconical hole, drilled off-center, with ridge at meeting point. Unevenly round. Surface uneven, much altered, with chips.

Perforated disc of the type "pi;" bored from both sides leaving median ridge; mottled bright shades of yellow and orange-brown; profuse silvery area of incipient disintegration; strata running in thin layers, most noticeable on the rim where some have chipped off from erosion and decomposition. Many rough and chipped areas on rim and surface.

Published References

Frederick William Gookin. Catalogue of a Loan Exhibition of Ancient Chinese Paintings, Sculptures and Jade Objects from the Collection formed by Charles Lang Freer, and Given by Him to the Nation through the Smithsonian Institution, Exhibition November 15 to December 8, 1917. Exh. cat. Chicago, November 15 - December 8, 1917. no. 93, p. 45.
J. Keith Wilson, Jingmin Zhang. Jades for Life and Death. .

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Disk (bi 璧)

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