1. Bought from Tonying and Company, New York. For price, see Original Miscellaneous List, p. 239.
2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: Han 漢. See further, S.I. 1074, Appendix VIII (see Paragraph 6).
3. (John Ellerton Lodge, 1927) Han 漢 or earlier.
4. (Isabel Ingram Mayer, 1945) Chou [Zhou] 周 dynasty. The six heads are similarly carved and all face in the same direction, counter clockwise, the ears, eyes and jaws protrude and are further emphasized by incised lines which are also used to indicate the teeth. Seen in profile the design is completely unidentifiable. Compare this piece with Una Pope Hennessy, Early Chinese Jades (New York: F. A. Stokes Co., 1923), pl. 61, fig. 2, where the animals are identified as frogs.
5. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Sp. G. is 2.943. Decomposition and surface alteration prevent a more accurate calculation for nephrite.
6. (H. Elise Buckman, 1964) The Envelope File contained no further information, and has now been destroyed.
7. (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.
8. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, July 1, 2008) Jewelry added as secondary classification.
9. (Stephen Allee, March 23, 2009) Added designation "nephrite" to Medium as per Janet Douglas using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (January 8, 2009).
10. (Susan Kitsoulis per Keith Wilson, June 10, 2010) Changed title from "Bracelet with masks" to "Bracelet with animal heads."
11. (Susan Kitsoulis per label text from exhibition of Ancient Chinese Jades and Bronzes, Freer Gallery of Art, November 20, 2010) Object related constituent changed from "Liangzhu 良渚 culture" to "probably Longshan 龍山 culture." Date changed from "ca. 3300--2250 BCE" to "ca. 2000--1700 BCE."
12. (Susan Kitsoulis per label text from exhibition of Ancient Chinese Jades and Bronzes, Freer Gallery of Art, November 20, 2010) Changed period from "probably Longshan 龍山 culture" to "Liangzhu 良渚 culture."
13. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, May 10, 2016) Period changed from "Probably" Late Neolithic period to Late Neolithic period, with object date changed from ca. 3000-1700 BCE to ca. 3300-2250 BCE.
Draft catalogue entry for F1917.141a-b; by Jenny F. So (2003)
Bracelet
Neolithic period, ca. 3000--2500 BCE
Liangzhu 良渚 culture, Lake Tai 太湖 region
Nephrite, even amber brown with golden patches
Diameter 9.32--9.91 cm; hole 5.93--6.13 cm; height 1.05--1.34 cm
F1917.141a-b
Six motifs in low relief decorate this thick bracelet with rectangular cross-section. Distributed evenly around the circumference and facing the same direction, these identical animal-head motifs are executed in low relief. Two concentric circular eyes and a horizontal scroll-like section below suggest a mouth or muzzle. Incised straight lines between the eyes and curved ones below them, as well as ones rising almost like furrows on a forehead above them, are all now worn and barely visible. Similarly worn and faint are short straight lines incised below the mouth or muzzle suggesting teeth. These features all extend and wrap around the edges of the bracelet. The entire surface, including the motifs, show signs of prolonged handling, and nowhere is the original color of the nephrite visible. A bracelet decorated with six similar motifs was in the Duanfang 端方 collection. [1] The possibility that the Freer bracelet might have already been in the collector's hand since the late nineteenth century would account for its current appearance.
A bracelet or ring with this unusual design was already recorded in the Yuan 元 dynasty catalogue Guyu tu 古玉圖 by Zhu Derun 朱德潤 [2] with a name that associated it with the legendary warrior king, Chiyou 蚩尤, who occupied China's east coast and was vanquished by Huangdi 黃帝, the Yellow Emperor. It is interesting that such bracelets have long been associated with eastern China even before archaeology provided a reliable provenance. These bracelets were clearly much collected and treasured for the legends associated with them. Their animal-head motifs are reminiscent of, but clearly different from, the more elaborate ones on other Liangzhu 良渚 jades such as cong tubes from the same contexts. Whether they allude to similar gods, or have similar religious or political meaning, we do not know.
When Charles Lang Freer bought this bracelet in 1917, it was thought to date from the Han 漢 dynasty. In the mid-1940's, it was upgraded to the Zhou 周 dynasty. More than fifty years after they entered Western collections, these unusual bracelets still have few archaeological parallels, the best of which came from M1 at Yaoshan 瑤山 with only four animal-head motifs in relief around its circumference. [3] Because this example was fresh from burial, its incised motifs are clearer and crisper, so that antennae-like horns emerge clearly among the lines above the animal's forehead. Small disks, more like pendants, with only two or three such motifs worked on its circumference have also been discovered from neighboring Liangzhu 良渚 sites. [4] The motif was apparently also applied to arc-shaped pendants. [5] Either by design or the result of archaeological accident, bracelets or other shapes carrying these animal-head motifs are far fewer in number than other Liangzhu 良渚 jades with animal motifs.
Published: Na Chih-liang [Na Zhiliang] 那志良, Yu-ch'i t'ung-shih [Yuqi tongshi] 玉器通釋 (Hong Kong: Kaifa gufen youxian gongsi, 1964--70), fig. 39.
[1] Wang Ta-Lung [Wang Dalong] 王大隆, T'ao-chai ku-yu t'u [Taozhai guyu tu] 陶齋古玉圖 (Shanghai: Laiqing ge, 1936), p. 60. It is difficult to determine which of two near identical bracelets this represents: candidates include the Freer's and the one in the British Museum. A third bracelet with only five animal-head motifs, also worn and much discolored from handling, is in the collection of the Taipei Palace Museum (see Deng Shuping 鄧淑蘋, Guoli gugong bowuyuan cang xinshiqi shidai yuqi tulu 國立故宮博物院藏新石器時代玉器圖錄 = Neolithic Jades in the Collection of the National Palace Museum [Taibei: Guoli gugong bowuyuan, 1992], cat. 59). Comparisons with the Freer and British Museum bracelets and with excavated counterparts throw suspicion on the antiquity of the Taipei 臺北 example.
[2] Zhu Derun 朱德潤, Guyu tu 古玉圖 (Yizhengtang, 1752), vol. 1, p. 4a-b.
[3] Zhejiang sheng wenwu kaogu yanjiusuo 浙江省文物考古研究所, Shanghai shi wenwu guanli weiyuanhui 上海市文物管理委员会, and Nanjing bowuyuan 南京博物院, Liangzhu wenhua yuqi 良渚文化玉器 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, and Hong Kong: Liangmu chubanshe, 1989), nos. 102--103. Mineralogical analysis and discussion of its appearance in Wen Guang 聞廣, "Jigu bai yu xiangya bai guyu 雞骨白與象牙白古玉," Gugong wenwu yuekan 故宮文物月刊 = The National Palace Museum Monthly of Chinese Art 134 (1994), pp. 116--29.
[4] Zhejiang sheng wenwu kaogu yanjiusuo 浙江省文物考古研究所, Shanghai shi wenwu guanli weiyuanhui 上海市文物管理委员会, and Nanjing bowuyuan 南京博物院, Liangzhu wenhua yuqi 良渚文化玉器 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, and Hong Kong: Liangmu chubanshe, 1989), nos. 157--58, 217--19.
[5] Zhejiang sheng wenwu kaogu yanjiusuo 浙江省文物考古研究所, Shanghai shi wenwu guanli weiyuanhui 上海市文物管理委员会, and Nanjing bowuyuan 南京博物院, Liangzhu wenhua yuqi 良渚文化玉器 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, and Hong Kong: Liangmu chubanshe, 1989), nos. 157--58.
The information presented on this website may be revised and updated at any time as ongoing research progresses or as otherwise warranted. Pending any such revisions and updates, information on this site may be incomplete or inaccurate or may contain typographical errors. Neither the Smithsonian nor its regents, officers, employees, or agents make any representations about the accuracy, reliability, completeness, or timeliness of the information on the site. Use this site and the information provided on it subject to your own judgment. The National Museum of Asian Art welcomes information that would augment or clarify the ownership history of objects in their collections..
International Image Interoperability Framework