Disk (bi 璧)

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: 16 x 1.4 cm (6 5/16 x 9/16 in)

Origin: China, Lake Tai region, purportedly found at Anxi, Zhejiang province

Notes: purportedly found at Anxi, Zhejiang province

Credit Line: Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Collection: Freer Gallery of Art Collection

Accession Number: F1917.357

: 璧
新石器時代晚期良渚文化（公元前3300--2250年）
中國太湖地區，傳浙江安溪出土
軟玉
直徑16、厚1.4釐米
查爾斯·蘭·佛利爾贈送
器物編號：F1917.357

Provenance: To 1917
You Xiaoxi (late 19th-early 20th century), Shanghai, to 1917 [1]

From 1917 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from You Xiaoxi 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. 1297, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

[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): You Xiaoxi 游篠溪 (C.L. Freer source) (late 19th-early 20th century)
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

Description: Perforated disk of the type pi [bi] 璧; bored from both sides, leaving unpolished, ragged median ridge; mottled light to medium olive greens and dull browns; scattered gray film of incipient disintegration; surface contour uneven due to cutting irregularities. (Numerous chips on rim.)

Acquired with a box, now lost.

Curatorial Remarks

1. Bought from Seaouke Yue [You Xiaoxi] 游筱溪, of Shanghai 上海, in New York. Said to have been excavated in Anki [Anxi] 安溪, Chekiang [Zhejiang] 浙江. For price, see Original Miscellaneous List, p. 292. $100.

2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: Chinese. Shang 商. See further, S.I. 1297, Appendix VIII.

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

4. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Sp. G. is 2.974. Nephrite.

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

6. (Stephen Allee per Keith Wilson, February 29, 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.

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

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

9. (Jeffrey Smith, April 13, 2016) Transferred from Description: (Jenny So, from Jade Project Database) Mottled light and medium olive green and dull brown. Biconical hole, off-center, with unusually pronounced ridge at meeting point and turn marks at wall. Uneven edges. Surface uneven.

Published References

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

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F1917.19

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