Jades for Life and Death

Classification: Ceremonial Object

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

Object Date: ca. 3000-ca. 1700 BCE

Medium: Jade (nephrite)

Dimension(s): Diam x D: 16.8 x 0.7 cm (6 5/8 x 1/4 in) Diam (hole): 6.2 cm (2 7/16 in)

Origin: China

Credit Line: Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Collection: Freer Gallery of Art Collection

Accession Number: F1917.136

: 璧
新石器時代晚期，公元前3000--1700年
中國
軟玉
直徑16.8、厚0.7釐米；孔徑6.2釐米
查爾斯·蘭·佛利爾贈送
器物編號:F1917.136

Provenance: To 1917
Tonying and Company, New York to 1917 [1]

From 1917 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Tonying and Company, 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. 1069, pg. 238, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. By at least 1917, Tonying and Company maintained business locations in Shanghai, Beijing, Paris, London, and New York, NY.

[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): Tonying and Company 通運公司 (C.L. Freer source) (established 1902)
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

Description: Thin perforated disc of the type pi [bi] 璧; translucent, mottled light golden browns and pale yellowish green; outer edge uneven and much thinner than at perforation; several dark strata cracks.

Acquired with a box, now lost.

(Jenny F. So, Jade Project Database, March 24, 2009) Possibly late Neolithic. Coarse grained material, light golden brown and pale yellowish green. Unevenly round, uneven thickness, edge thinner than center at hole. Surface repolished smooth; convex profile of hole also suggests repolishing of biconical hole.

Past label text: 1. (Keith Wilson, "Afterlife: Ancient Chinese Jades," Gallery 19, Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Oct. 14, 2017 to Apr 15, 2018)

Shang dynasty bi
Central China, Henan province, Anyang, ca. 1600–1050 BCE
Jade (nephrite)
Gift of Charles Lang Freer F1917.136

Reflecting the Past
Liangzhu tombs contain more bi than do burial sites of the later Neolithic period and the early Bronze Age. Compared with Liangzhu models, other variations occurred in scale, how central holes were drilled from one side only, and the use of local stone.

Here, the outer “skin” of the nephrite boulder still encircles the largest bi. The two whitish disks are of serpentine, a softer stone used in Sichuan province to the far southwest. The small size of the bi suggests the original ritual purpose of these disks in Liangzhu burials was forgotten by the early Bronze Age.

Curatorial Remarks

1. Bought from Tonying 通運 and Company, in New York. For price, see Original Miscellaneous List, p. 238. $200.

2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: Chinese. Han 漢. See further, S.I. 1069, Appendix VIII (see Paragraph 5).

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

4. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Sp. G. is 2.908.

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

6. (Thomas Lawton, 1978) Attribution changed from Chou [Zhou] 周 to Eastern Chou [Zhou] 周.

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

8. (Stephen Allee, March 24, 2009) Jenny F. So, Jade Project Database, lists Period as: "Possibly late Neolithic," with no given dates. Keith Wilson indicates "Shang 商 dynasty, ca. 1500--ca. 1050 BCE." As per Keith Wilson, changed Period One from "Eastern Zhou 周 dynasty" to "Shang 商 dynasty"; changed Date from "770--256 BCE" to "ca. 1500--ca. 1050 BCE"; changed Title from "Ritual disk, Bi 璧" to "Disk (bi 璧)"; changed Object Name from "Disk (bi 璧)" to "Ceremonial object." Changed Medium "Jade" to "Jade (?)," as no scientific analysis is recorded. Added Measurements (Diam: 16.8 x D: 0.65; Diam hole: 6.20) as per Christine Lee, Jade Project Database. Added
Description, as per Jenny F. So, Jade Project Database.

9. (Jeffrey Smith per Janet Douglas, July 21, 2010) Nephrite added as modifier to existing medium of "jade" based on conservation analysis.

10. (Susan Kitsoulis per Keith Wilson, December 2, 2010) Changed geographic location from "China" to "Central China, Anyang 安陽, Henan 河南 province"; date from "ca. 1500--ca. 1050 BCE" to "ca. 1600--1050 BCE." Deleted "Shang 商 dynasty."

11. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, August 2, 2017) Title changed from "Disk (bi)" to "Disk (bi 璧)"; period one added "Late Neolithic period"; date changed from "ca. 1600-1050 BCE" to "ca. 5000-ca. 1700 BCE"; geography changed from "Anyang, Henan province, Central China" to "China".

12. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, August 1, 2018) Following description removed, "(Jenny So, Jade Project Database, entered 24 March 2009) Possibly Late Neolithic. Coarse-grained material, light golden brown and pale yellowish green. Unevenly round, uneven thickness, edge thinner than center at hole. Surface repolished smooth; convex profile of hole also suggests repolishing of biconical hole. (File folder) Chinese. Eastern Zhou, ca. 770-256 B.C. Thin perforated disc of the type "bi;" translucent, mottled light, golden browns and pale yellowish green; outer edge uneven and much thinner than at perforation; several dark strata cracks. Box."

Added the following description, "Thin perforated disc of the type pi [bi] 璧; translucent, mottled light golden browns and pale yellowish green; outer edge uneven and much thinner than at perforation; several dark strata cracks. Acquired with a box, now lost. (Jenny F. So, Jade Project Database, March 24, 2009) Possibly late Neolithic. Coarse grained material, light golden brown and pale yellowish green. Unevenly round, uneven thickness, edge thinner than center at hole. Surface repolished smooth; convex profile of hole also suggests repolishing of biconical hole."

Published References

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

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Disk (bi 璧)

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