Head ornament with mask

• 1. Bought from Seaouke Yue [You Xiaoxi] 游筱溪, of Shanghai 上海, in New York. For price, see Original Miscellaneous  List, p. 302.

  2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: Chinese. Hsia [Xia] 夏. See further, S.I.  1320, Appendix VIII. Excavated from Anki [Anxi] 安溪 in Chekiang [Zhejiang] 浙江 province.

  3. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Sp. G. is 2.955.

  4. (Archibald Gibson Wenley, 1946) Period uncertain. Cf. F1916.511, F1917.378c, and 1917.378d.

  5. (William B. Trousdale, 1964) Chou [Zhou] 周 dynasty. Western Chou [Zhou] 周, 9th--8th century BCE.

  6. (Thomas Lawton, 1978) For an illustration of a similar jade plaque unearthed from a Liang chu [Liangzhu] 良渚 culture site in the Hangchou [Hangzhou] 杭州 Bay region of Chekiang [Zhejiang] 浙江 province, see Ch'en Tso fu [Chen Zuofu] 陳左夫, "Liang-chu ku-yu t'an-t'ao [Liangzhu guyu tantao] 良渚古玉探討," K'ao ku t'ung hsun [Kaogu tongxun] 考古通訊 1957.2, pl. 12:15. Although the Liang chu [Liangzhu] 良渚 culture is primarily a Neolithic culture, considered part of the Lung shan [Longshan] 龍山 Neolithic culture, its sites also yielded later artifacts, including Chou [Zhou] 周 and Han 漢 jades.

  7. (Julia K. Murray, 1980) Attribution changed from Western Chou [Zhou] 周 to Neolithic, ca. 2000 BCE.

  8. (Julia K. Murray, 1982) This plaque may be seen as a smaller, more simply decorated version of the type represented by F1916.511, whose surface design includes incised meanders on the raised features as well as incised arms with claws beside and below the "face." The smooth, low relief elements composing the face on plaque F1917.380 are seen again on Freer ts'ung [cong] 琮 (or bracelet) F1917.384; also on an angular plaque of a different shape (similar to F1917.382) excavated at a site belonging to the Liang chu [Liangzhu] 良渚 culture in Kiangsu [Jiangsu] 江蘇 province, at Tsan miao [Zanmiao] 昝廟, Chiang ning [Jiangning] 江寧 (see line drawing in Nanking po-wu-yuan [Nanjing bowuyuan] 南京博物院, "Kiangsu Wu-chin Ssu-tun i-chih ti shih-chue [Jiangsu Wujin Sidun yizhi de shijue] 江蘇武進寺墩遺址的試掘," K'ao ku [Kaogu] 考古 1981.3, p. 197, fig. 7). Also related to plaque F1917.380 are F1917.378c and F1917.378d in the Freer collection. These  are smaller, undecorated and wider relative to height than either F1917.380 or F1916.511. Like the  excavated example cited in Lawton's note above, all four plaques are drilled in back with three  pairs of holes for attachment or stringing together with other pendant elements.

  9. (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.

  10. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, July 1, 2008) Jewelry added as secondary classification.

  11. (Stephen Allee, March 23, 2009) Added designation "nephrite" to Medium as per Janet Douglas  using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (January 8, 2009).

  12. (Susan Kitsoulis per Keith Wilson, December 2, 2010) Title changed from "Headdress with mask" to  "Head ornament with mask"; object name changed from "Headdress" to "Head ornament."
  
  

Draft catalogue entry for F1917.380; by Jenny F. So (2003)

Two lunette-shaped ornaments
Neolithic period, ca. 3000--2500 BCE
Liangzhu 良渚 culture, Lake Tai 太湖 region
Nephrite, mottled dark green with white streaks
H 5.45 x W 6.61 × 1.07 cm thick
F 1917.380

These lunette shaped plaques are not flat. Their backs are gently concave to match the subtle  convexity of the front. The flat bottom also curves up slightly. On the back, three sets of linked holes placed in triangular configuration--one near the rounded top, and one each near the corners at the bottom--were drilled for attachment.

On the larger plaque (F1916.511), the front shows an animal image identical to those found on many  Liangzhu 良渚 cong 琮 (see F1916.118): large pointed oval eyes with circular pupils, a pointed connection between  them on the forehead, over an elongated oval nose and an even longer oval mouth. All this is done in very  low relief, with their interior surfaces densely filled by miniscule geometric patterns incised in superfine lines,  much of them now worn beyond recognition. Incised and extending from either side of this image are  arm like appendages that bend forward to meet in claws just below the mouth. These are also filled with the same minute geometric patterns. On the smaller plaque (F1917.380), the animal image is surmounted by a human image wearing a feathered headdress resembling motifs found on the renowned large cong 琮 from Fanshan 反山 (M12:98), [1] but the designs on the Freer piece are so worn (especially the human image) that they are barely visible. Two related plaques acquired at the same time as the smaller plaque (F1917.380) in 1917 are undecorated (F1917.378c and F1917.378d).

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, has a virtually identical plaque that  may conceivably have come from the same set. [2] Recent excavations of Liangzhu 良渚 sites in Zhejiang 浙江 province  reveal that these ornaments usually occur in sets of four, and only in the richest tombs in the Yuhang 餘杭 area. Four of five sets recovered came from graves at Fanshan 反山; the remaining set was recovered from looters of  M12 at Yaoshan 瑤山. [3] Of the five sets recovered, only one set (from M22 at Fanshan 反山) is decorated with a  face like design like the Freer's. [4] The rest are plain like F1917.378c and F1917.378d. Based on the relationship of the plaques in M12 at Yaoshan 瑤山, archaeologists suggested that the sets were sewn on as ornaments on cloth headdresses worn by the deceased. Since these plaques have so far only come from Liangzhu 良渚 graves, they are regarded as unique to the Liangzhu 良渚 people. Their rarity signifies unusual status for their owners. The sets decorated with animal images like the Freer's probably enjoyed even higher status as they might also  indicate that the wearer possessed special powers implied by the image of the creature that adorns it.

It is therefore interesting to note that on rare occasions, for example at M74 in Fuquanshan 福泉山 outside  Shanghai 上海, only a single plaque has been recovered from a grave, and often together with jade beads. M22 at Fanshan 反山 also yielded a single plaque, again with beads. [5] Both plaques have two additional holes drilled from back to front at the bottom so that it can be strung with beads to form a necklace. This suggests that after their manufacture, the sets of four might be separated--given away as gifts or forcibly taken from their owners under unknown circumstances. Their new function in new contexts would then have resulted in the new drillings.

[1] Zhejiang sheng wenwu kaogu yanjiusuo 浙江省文物考古研究所, Fanshan 反山 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 2005), vol. 1, pp. 43-59; vol. 2, pls. 141-215.

[2] Rogers Fund, acc. no. 18.63. Acquired in 1918 from Tonying and Company, in New York, closely comparable in size, and showing a similarly worn opaque yellowish tan surface, the Metropolitan plaque might have been part of a set with F1916.511 separated and sold individually as dealers often did without fully comprehending the meaning and the functions of such object sets. A third example is in the Pillsbury collection, Minneapolis Institute of Arts (acc. no. 50.46.230). Its design shows the creature surmounted by a humanoid head wearing a feathered headdress similar to the design on the large cong 琮 from Fanshan 反山 (M12:98), but lacking arms or legs.
http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/49373?rpp=30&pg=1&ft=18.63&pos=1
and
https://collections.artsmia.org/index.php?page=detail&id=898

[3] From M12, M14, M22, M23; see Zhejiang sheng wenwu kaogu yanjiusuo 浙江省文物考古研究所, Shanghai shi wenwu guanli weiyuanhui 上海市文物管理委員會, and Nanjing bowuyuan 南京博物院, Liangzhu wenhua yuqi 良渚文化玉器 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, Xianggang: Liangmu chubanshe, 1989), nos. 151--53, 155; Jean James, "Images of power: Masks of the Liangzhu culture," Orientations 22, no. 6 (1991), p. 54.

[4] Zhejiang sheng wenwu kaogu yanjiusuo 浙江省文物考古研究所, Shanghai shi wenwu guanli weiyuanhui 上海市文物管理委員會, and Nanjing bowuyuan 南京博物院, Liangzhu wenhua yuqi 良渚文化玉器 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, Xianggang: Liangmu chubanshe, 1989), no. 152.

[5] Huang Xuanpei 黃宣佩, Fuquanshan: Xinshiqishidai yizhi fajue baogao 福泉山: 新石器时代遗址发掘报告 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 2000), pls. 20:5--6; Zhejiang sheng wenwu kaogu yanjiusuo 浙江省文物考古研究所, Shanghai shi wenwu guanli weiyuanhui 上海市文物管理委員會, and Nanjing bowuyuan 南京博物院, Liangzhu wenhua yuqi 良渚文化玉器 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, Xianggang: Liangmu chubanshe, 1989), no. 164.

• Minao Hayashi. Jade of the Liang-chu Culture. no. 360 Tokyo, March 1981. fig. 9.
• 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. 18.
• Elizabeth Childs-Johnson, Fang Gu. Yuqi shidai: Meiguo bowuguan cang Zhongguo zaoqi yuqi [The Jade Age: Early Chinese Jades in American Museums]. Beijing, 2009. p. 60.