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. 3000-1700 BCE

Object Date: ca. 3000-1700 BCE

Medium: Jade (nephrite)

Dimension(s): H x Diam: 2 x 8.7 cm (13/16 x 3 7/16 in) Diam (hole): 6.2 cm (2 7/16 in)

Origin: China, Lake Tai region

Credit Line: Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Collection: Freer Gallery of Art Collection

Accession Number: F1917.143

: 手鐲
新石器時代晚期（公元前5000--1700年）
中國
軟玉
高2、直徑8.7釐米；孔徑6.2釐米
查爾斯·蘭·佛利爾贈送
器物編號：F1917.143

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. 1076, 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: Thick ring with wide perforation, possibly a bracelet; mottled golden brown and yellow; surface roughened by earth-colored areas of incipient disintegration. (Inner rim slightly chipped.)

Acquired with a box, now lost.

Curatorial Remarks

1. Bought from Tonying and Company, New York. For price, see Original Miscellaneous List, p. 240. $100.

2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: Chinese. Han 漢. See further, S.I. 1076, Appendix VIII (see Paragraph 5).

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

4. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Sp. G. is 2.944. Decomposition prevents more accurate calculation for nephrite.

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 Neolithic.

7. (Julia K. Murray, 1982) "3rd millennium BCE" is added to the date. See Folder Sheet F1917.387 for discussion of bangles.

8. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, July 1, 2008) Jewelry 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.

Published References

J. Keith Wilson, Jingmin Zhang. Jades for Life and Death. .
Julia Murray. Neolithic Chinese Jades in the Freer Gallery of Art. vol. 14, no. 11 Hong Kong, November 1983. p. 21.

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