Jades for Life and Death

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: 14.4 x 1.1 cm (5 11/16 x 7/16 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: F1917.361

: 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14.4、厚1.1釐米
查爾斯·蘭·佛利爾贈送
器物編號：F1917.361

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. 1301, 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 pronounced median ridge; mottled pale to olive greens and golden browns, grayish-white coating of incipient disintegration in all cracks and veinings; cutting irregular, many saw marks and scarred areas as well as strata fissures. (Rim damaged in three areas.)

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. 293. $75.

2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: Chinese. Shang 商. See further, S.I. 1301, Appendix VIII and Envelope File.

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

4. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Sp. G. is 3.001. 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 F. So, from Jade Project Database) Mottled light and olive green and brown, much altered. Biconical hole, drilled off center, with ridge at meeting point. Unevenly round and thick. Surface uneven with curved slice marks on both faces.

Published References

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

CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0): This image is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

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..

Save this image | Terms of use

Disk (bi 璧)

Related Objects

Related Media

Web Resources