Pendant in the form of a dragon with raised uniform curls

1. Bought from Seaouke Yue [You Xiaoxi] 游筱溪, of Shanghai 上海, in New York, NY. For price, see Original Miscellaneous List, p. 300.

2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: Chinese. Hsia [Xia] 夏. Said to have been excavated in Shensi [Shaanxi] 陝西. See further, S.I. 1316, Appendix  VIII.

3. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Sp. G. is 2.965. Nephrite.

4. (Archibald Gibson Wenley, 1945) Ch'ing [Qing] 清 dynasty. Reproduction of Chou [Zhou] 周 type. The design is misunderstood and the cream white coating may well be produced by acid.

5. (William B. Trousdale, 1964) Han 漢 dynasty. Western Han 漢. Crudely cut piece based on late Chou [Zhou] 周 design. There is a fairly large body of this rougher Han 漢 material reflecting a late and awkward continuation of the more graceful late Chou [Zhou] 周 pieces.

6. (Thomas Lawton, 1974) Late Eastern Chou [Zhou] 周. The rough material and crude carving technique are characteristic of a number of pieces unearthed during recent years in the People's Republic of China. Those examples have always been found in a Ch'u [Chu] 楚 context, which provides a late Eastern Chou [Zhou] 周 date and suggests that the crudeness of execution and roughness of design are characteristics of Ch'u [Chu] 楚 taste. Other related examples in the Freer collection are F1917.372, F1916.514 and F1916.758.

7. (Hin-cheung Lovell, 1978) Regarding the Ch'ang sha [Changsha] 長沙 provenance, see Folder Sheet F1917.372.

8. (Thomas Lawton, Chinese Art of the Warring States Period: Change and Continuity, 480-222 B.C. [Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1982], cat. no. 100) The thin, tan-gray nephrite plaque depicts a coiling dragon with head and tail arching backward to join the central curve of the body. A series of curvilinear forms accents the  interior curves of the composition. The contours of the dragon body are repeated by incised lines on both sides of  the plaque; the main section is covered with raised spiral patterns organized on a grid system. A small conical  perforation in the center of the back probably was the means by which the plaque was secured to another  surface. The large size of the piece makes it unlikely that it was ever used as a pendant, and the flat edges that interrupt the rounded contours support the suggestion that the plaque was inset into another surface. Several  portions of the plaque are broken, and the edges are chipped. [1]

Although the plaque traditionally is said to have been found in Shensi [Shaanxi] 陝西 province, the somewhat ungainly silhouette of the dragon and perfunctorily incised outlines are characteristic features found on a number of related jade  pieces unearthed in ancient Ch'u [Chu] 楚 territory. [2]

[1] Umehara Sueji 梅原末治 includes the Freer plaque in Shina kogyoku zuroku 支那古玉圖錄 (Kyoto: Kuwana bunseido, 1955), pl. 91, center.

[2] Jan Fontein and Wu Tung discuss several representative jades from the state of Ch'u [Chu] 楚 in Unearthing China's Past (Boston, MA: Museum of Fine Arts, 1973), p. 86. 

9. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, August 22, 2008) "Jewelry" and "Ornament" added as secondary classification.

10. (Susan Kitsoulis per Keith Wilson, May 6, 2010) Title changed from "Ornament; thin plaque in coiling dragon form" to "Dragon shaped pendant"; Object Name from "Plaque: dragon" to "Jewelry."

11. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, December 30, 2021) Added Period Two as "Warring States period"; Object Name changed from "Jewelry" to "Pendant"; Title changed from "Dragon-shaped pendant" to "Pendant in the form of a dragon with raised uniform curls"; Date changed from "4th-3rd century BCE" to "475-221 BCE"; added geography (provenance) as "China, purportedly found in Shaanxi province"; added Chinese translation.

Removed the following from the Description field:

"Chinese
Late Eastern Chou, Warring States period
Ch'ang-sha
4th-3rd centuries B.C.

Ornament; thin plaque in coiling dragon form; perforation near top; under-color is mottled gray and green almost completely covered with white and cream-colored coating; decoration: carved in openwork, low relief and incised, grain pattern on large surfaces; sharp edges; areas of high luster. Several breaks some obviously smoothed. Box.

Neg. No. 383B7".

Added the following to the Description field:

"Ornament; thin plaque in coiling dragon form; perforation near top; under color is mottled gray and green almost completely covered with white and cream colored coating; decoration: carved in openwork, low relief and incised, grain pattern on large surfaces; sharp edges; areas of high luster. Several breaks some obviously smoothed. Acquired with a box, now lost."

12. (Jeffrey Smith per Matthew Clarke, July 8, 2022) Medium changed from "Jade" to "Jade (nephrite)."