Jades for Life and Death

Classification: Jewelry and Ornament

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): H x Diam: 3.5 x 9.1 cm (1 3/8 x 3 9/16 in)

Origin: China, Lake Tai region

Credit Line: Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Collection: Freer Gallery of Art Collection

Accession Number: F1917.139

: 手鐲
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
高3.5、直徑9.1釐米；孔徑6.5釐米
查爾斯·蘭·佛利爾贈送
器物編號：F1917.139

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. 1072, 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: Wide, heavy ring with large perforation, possibly a bracelet; semi-translucent, mottled golden browns and yellow, with traces of pale translucent green; scattered cream-colored incipient disintegration, more pronounced on the inner surface. (Smoothed chipped area on each rim.)

Curatorial Remarks

1. Bought from Tonying and Company, New York. For price, see Original Miscellaneous List, p. 239. $100.

2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: Chinese. Han 漢. See further, S.I. 1072, Appendix VIII (see Paragraph 6).

3. (John Ellerton Lodge, 1929) Han 漢 or earlier.

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

5. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Sp. G. is 2.933. Decomposition prevents more accurate calculation for nephrite.

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

7. (Thomas Lawton, 1978) Attribution changed from Chou [Zhou] 周 to Shang 商.

8. (Julia K. Murray, 1982) Compared to Neolithic bangles whose walls are straight and have flat tops and bottoms, F1917.139 is unusually thick and tall. Its walls exhibit only a very slight irregularity in thickness, suggesting that it should be placed somewhat later than the Neolithic period; hence the attribution to Shang 商. A comparable and likewise unprovenanced bangle in the Fogg Art Museum (Max Loehr, Ancient Chinese Jades from the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection in the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University [Cambridge, MA: Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, 1975], cat. 605) is published as "date uncertain." For a discussion of bangles, see Folder Sheet F1917.387.

9. (Stephen Allee per Keith Wilson, February 26, 2008) On this date entered: Period One (Late Neolithic period), Date (3300--2250 BCE), Artist (Liangzhu 良渚 culture), Title, Object name, Geographical region (Lake Tai 太湖 region); plus Dimensions per Christine Lee, from Jade Project Database.

10. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, July 1, 2008) Jewelry added as secondary classification.

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

12. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, May 10, 2016) Comparanda: Max Loehr, Ancient Chinese Jades, cat. 605. (1943.50.495).

Published References

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

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