Object: Five-tier tube (cong 琮) with masks F1917.368

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): H x W x D: 11.3 x 5.9 x 6 cm (4 7/16 x 2 5/16 x 2 3/8 in) Diam (hole): 4.7 cm (1 13/16 in)

Origin: China, Lake Tai region, but purportedly found at Luoyang, Henan province

Notes: but purportedly found at Luoyang, Henan province

Credit Line: Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Collection: Freer Gallery of Art Collection

Accession Number: F1917.368

: 人面紋五節琮
新石器時代晚期良渚文化（公元前3300--2250年）
中國太湖地區，原傳河南洛陽出土
軟玉
高11.3、寬5.9、厚6 釐米；孔徑4.7 釐米
查爾斯·蘭·佛利爾贈送
器物編號：F1917.368

Provenance: Reportedly excavated from Loyang in Honan [1]

To 1917
You Xiaoxi (late 19th-early 20th century), Shanghai, to 1917 [2]

From 1917 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from You Xiaoxi, in New York, in 1917 [3]

From 1920
Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [4]

Notes:

[1] According to Curatorial Remark 2 in the object record.

[2] See Original Miscellaneous List, S.I. 1308, pg. 296, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

[3] See note 2.

[4] 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: Squared hollow cylinder of the type ts’ung [cong] 琮; short projecting collar at top and base; interior has circular boring marks and irregular median ridge; mottled orange, yellow, reddish and dark browns; decoration: channeled and incised, vertical grooves on sides, bands, grooves and circles on corners. (Scattered chips and small surface defects.)

Acquired with a box, now lost.

Curatorial Remarks

1. Purchased from Seaouke Yue [You Xiaoxi] 游筱溪, of Shanghai 上海, in New York. For price, see Original Miscellaneous List, p. 296. $75

2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: Chinese. Hsia [Xia] 夏. See further, S.I. 1308, Appendix VIII. Excavated from Loyang [Luoyang] 洛陽 in Honan [Henan] 河南.

3. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Sp. G. is 2.990. Nephrite.

4. (Isabel Ingram Mayer, 1946) Chou [Zhou] 周 dynasty.

5. (Thomas Lawton, 1978) Western Chou [Zhou] 周.

6. (Julia K. Murray, 1982) For a discussion of the tall ts'ung [cong] 琮 with segmented-band decor, a type found in the late Neolithic jade inventory in eastern China, see Folder Sheet F1916.410.

Unlike the other tall ts'ung [cong] 琮 with segmented decor in the Freer collection, the tsung [cong] 琮 F1917.368 does not exhibit the same slight taper in width from top to bottom. Furthermore, the incised circles that appear between the horizontal bands in each of the five registers are cut more deeply and prominently. For the present, it seems best to leave the dating unchanged rather than reattribute the piece to the Neolithic period along with the other ts'ung [cong] 琮.

7. (Stephen Allee per Keith Wilson, February 29, 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 17, 2008) Ceremonial Objects 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, April 20, 2010) Title changed from "Tall tube (cong 琮)" to "Tube (cong 琮)."

Published References

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

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Five-tier tube (cong 琮) with masks

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