1. Bought from Seaouke Yue [You Xiaoxi] 游筱溪, of Shanghai 上海. For price, see Original Miscelleaneous List, p. 303. $250. Said to have been excavated in Shensi [Shaanxi] 陝西.
2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: Chinese. Hsia [Xia] 夏. See further, S.I. 1325, Appendix VIII.
3. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Sp. G. is 2.944.
4. (Isabel Ingram Mayer, 1945) Chou [Zhou] 周 dynasty. Compare device and symbol with F1919.58, F1917.79, and F1917.348, also F1917.346.
5. (Thomas Lawton, 1978) Western Chou [Zhou] 周.
6. (Julia K. Murray, 1980) Attribution is changed from Western Chou [Zhou] 周 to Neolithic, ca. 2000 BCE. Exhibition Studies in Connoisseurship: 1923--1983 label text; moved to label field.
7. (Julia K. Murray, 1982) For a general discussion of bangles, see Folder Sheet F1917.387. In shape and proportions, bangle F1917.385 most resembles an actinolite bangle found in Neolithic remains at Chang ling shan [Zhanglingshan] 張陵山, Wu hsien [Wu xian] 吳縣, in Kiangsu [Jiangsu] 江蘇 province (see Nanjing bowuyuan 南京博物院, Chūka Jinmin Kyōwakoku Nankin Hakubutsuin ten 中華人民共和國南京博物院展 = Art Treasures from the Nanjing Museum [Nagoya-shi: Nagoya-shi Hakubutsukan, 1981], cat. 22), and an ivory bangle found in the upper layer at Ta hsi [Daxi] 大溪, Wu shan [Wushan] 巫山, Szechwan [Sichuan] 四川 (Szechwan sheng po-wu-kuan [Sichuan sheng bowuguan] 四川省博物館, "Wu-shan Ta-hsi i-chih ti-san-tzu fa-chueh [Wushan Daxi yizhi disanci fajue] 巫山大溪遺址第三次發掘," K'ao ku hsueh pao [Kaogu xuebao] 考古學報 1981.4, pl. 8:5 [M101:25]). The latter is tentatively dated to the 4th millennium BCE and the former to the later 4th/3rd millennium BCE.
The incised emblem resembling a sun over moon (see photograph on the original Folder Sheet) occurs in similar form on a large pottery wine jar (tsun [zun] 尊) belonging to a late stage of the Ta wen k'ou [Dawenkou] 大汶口 culture. The jar was found at Ling ho ts'un [Linghecun] 陵河村, Ying hsien [Ying xian] 營縣, Shantung [Shandong] 山東 (Shantung sheng wen-wu kuan-li-ch'u [Shandong sheng wenwu guanlichu] 山東省文物管理處 and Chinan shih po-wu-kuan [Jinan shi bowuguan] 濟南市博物館, Ta wen k'ou: Hsin-shih-ch'i shih-tai mu-tsang fa-chueh pao-kao [Dawenkou: Xinshiqi shidai muzang fajue baogao] 大汶口：新石器時代墓葬發掘報告 [Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1974], p. 118, fig. 94) and is attributed to the late 3rd millennium BCE.
At a point 180 degrees away from the sun moon emblem there is another incised design, somewhat resembling outstretched wings with eyes in them. Hayashi Minao relates this motif to angular plaques like F1916.628 and F1917.382 and traces the origins of the motif back to the Ho mu tu [Hemudu] 河姆渡 culture of the Hangchou [Hangzhou] 杭州 Bay area (carbon dated to ca. 5000 BCE). He tentatively interprets the motif as representing the spirit of the sun.
Furthermore, he speculates that the occurrence of one motif characteristic of Shantung [Shandong] 山東 (i.e., the sun moon) and one characteristic of the Lower Yangtze 揚子 (wings with eyes) together on the Freer bangle F1917.385 symbolizes the forging of some kind of kinship tie between the two areas. (See Hayashi Minao 林巳奈夫, "Ryōsho bunka no gyokki jakkano megutte 良渚文化の玉器若干をめぐって = Jade of the Liang-chu Culture," Museum 360 [1981], pp. 22--33.)
Other incised emblems of similar character and date are found on four pi [bi] 璧 disks in the Freer collection (F1917.79, F1917.346, F1917.348, and F1919.58). Hiyashi Minao also discusses them in the article cited above.
8. See F1916.628, no. 10.
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.
Draft catalogue entry for F1917.385; by Jenny F. So (2003)
Bracelet
Neolithic period, 300--2500 BCE
Liangzhu 良渚 culture, Lake Tai 太湖 region
Nephrite, translucent pale yellowish green with tan and white patches
Diameter 5.99--6.34 cm; opening 5.34--5.73 cm; height 3.82--3.85 cm
F1917.385
This small but impressive bracelet has faintly concave walls thinly but unevenly ground and an overall shape that is slightly oval instead of round. Placed on opposite sides of the outer wall are two different motifs or emblems incised in fine lines. It is the presence of two emblems on the same bracelet, and the fact that this is the only example known to date, that give the Freer bracelet an unique place among China's ancient jades.
Much has been written about this bracelet. A reading of the simpler motif--a new-moon shape (with a raised point at the center of its concave inside curve) below a slightly flattened circle--is relatively straightforward. Some scholars see it simply as the sun and moon and an early form of a pictographic script. [1] Others read the motif as a bird in flight (crescent shape) carrying the sun on its back. The sun-bird motif has deep roots in Neolithic communities in south China and has therefore been taken as an important clan sign of the Neolithic peoples in the Yangzi 揚子 river delta. [2] The significant status of the circle-and-crescent symbol in Liangzhu良渚 culture is represented by the recurrence of the design on the collar of the tallest cong 琮 (49.2 cm high) now known (preserved in the National Museum in Beijing 北京). [3]
But because the same motif occurs also on pottery from the Dawenkou 大汶口 context in southwestern Shandong 山東 province, it has been associated with the Neolithic peoples from that area. [4] More recent excavations at a contemporaneous site at Mengcheng 蒙城 Weichisi 尉遲寺 on the northern banks of the Huai 淮 river valley yielded five large pottery urns with similar incised motifs, suggesting a different likely home for this motif (Fig. 1a, b). [5] At Weichisi 尉遲寺, four of the five urns contained children's remains; only one was found in a sacrificial pit. The circumstances in which these emblems occur suggest connections with death, particularly infant deaths. The association with children helps explain the relatively small size of the Freer bracelet and its opening, which could only accommodate small fists. [6] But even adults seem to have worn bracelets with relatively small openings around their wrists, as those recovered from the wrists of adult male tomb occupants at Huating 花廳, northern Jiangsu 江蘇 province, all have openings that range between 5 and 5.5 centimeters; on children buried in the same tombs, the bracelets' openings tend to be less than five centimeters. [7] The Weichisi 尉遲寺 finds question the Shandong 山東 or Dawenkou 大汶口 association of this motif. It also provides the motif with a strong association with death.
The more elaborate and apparently unique motif on the opposite face presents a different set of problems. Curiously, as discussion was focused on the meaning of the simpler emblem above, the only reading of this motif offered by Hayashi has gone generally uncontested. Hayashi reads the top half as a motif descended from two addorsed birds with a sun between them, thus linking it directly with the same Neolithic tradition of the Yangzi 揚子 delta region that created the sun-bird emblem above. He then sees its unusual silhouette as related to that of the trapezoidal plaques commonly found in Liangzhu 良渚 contexts (see F1917.382), an emblem of supernatural powers that he believes are displayed, perhaps on top of pedestals like the bell-shaped one on the bottom half of the motif. [8] Since he subscribes to the Shandong 山東 provenance for the circle-and-crescent emblem, Hayashi tries to explain the coexistence of motifs from two different geographic regions on one bracelet as a reflection of contact between these two Neolithic communities. [9]
New discoveries have shown that the trapezoidal "emblems of power," as Hayashi understood them, are now ornamental comb tops (see F1917.382), and hence are hardly appropriate for display on a pedestal. Furthermore, this once-unique motif on the Freer bracelet now has a close match on the collar of a ten-tiered cong 琮 recovered from among late second millennium BCE debris at Jinsha 金沙, just outside Chengdu 成都 in Sichuan 四川 province (Fig. 2). [10] Together with the National Museum and Shanghai 上海 Museum cong 琮, the Jinsha 金沙 example reinforces the Liangzhu 良渚 connections of both emblems on the Freer bracelet. The fine-grained yellow and olive-green nephrite of the Freer bracelet is also matched by similar material used for bracelets and other ornaments recovered from Zhanglingshan 張陵山 and Fuquanshan 福泉山, both Liangzhu 良渚 sites. [11] It would appear that the Freer bracelet and both emblems are indigenous to the Liangzhu 良渚 community along the lower Yangzi 揚子 valley.
Resolving the issue of provenance and cultural affiliation for the Freer bracelet and having a second example from Chengdu 成都 has not helped us to understand the second, more complex emblem. As the only reading offered, Hayashi's remains unsatisfactory because it was based on a mistaken interpretation of a Liangzhu 良渚 object. At this point, I would like to suggest that the top half of the motif should perhaps be read as a bird with wings spread in flight, its blunt tail pointing up, and its head with large (almost owl-like) eyes accented in double lines pointing down at the flared bell-shaped motif as spread wings and large eyes have been recovered from Liangzhu 良渚 sites; some actually carry a circle (the sun?) in low relief on their backs (Fig. 3). [12] The nature of the bell-shaped base remains unclear, as is the bird's relationship to it.
Published: Julia K. Murray, "Neolithic Chinese Jades in the Freer Gallery of Art," Orientations 14, no. 11 (1983), figs. 6--7; Zhang Minghua 張明華, Liangzhu Guyu 良渚古玉 = Jades of Liangzhu Culture (Taipei: Dujia chubanshe youxian gongsi, 1995), p. 131, figs. 209--10; Hayashi Minao, Chūgoku kogyokuki sōsetsu (Tokyo: Yoshikawa kōbunkan, 1999), p. 202, fig. 5:21.
Figures:
Details and line drawings of two emblems
1a. Drawing of M96 (Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu yanjiusuo 中國社會科學院考古研究所, Mengcheng Weichisi: Wanbei xinshiqi shidai juluo yicun de fajue yu yanjiu 蒙城尉遲寺：皖北新石器時代聚落遺存的發掘與研究 (Beijing: Kexue chubanshe, 2001), fig. 172.
1b. Drawing of emblem (ibid., p. 245, fig. 198).
2. Jinsha 金沙 cong 琮 with emblem (Chengdu shi wenwu kaogu yanjiusuo 成都市文物考古研究所 and Beijing daxue kaogu wenbo yuan 北京大學考古文博院, Jinsha taozhen: Chengdu shi Jinsha cun yizhi chutu wenwu 金沙淘珍--成都市金沙村遺址出土文物 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 2002), cat. 20.
3. Drawing of Liangzhu 良渚 bird pendant (Zhejiang sheng wenwu kaogu yanjiusuo 浙江省文物考古研究所, Shanghai shi wenwu guanli weiyuanhui 上海市文物管理委员会, and Nanjing bowuyuan 南京博物院, Liangzhu wenhua yuqi 良渚文化玉器 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, and Hong Kong: Liangmu chubanshe, 1989), no. 198, bottom right)
[1] Wu Hung, "Bird Motifs in Eastern Yi Art," Orientations 16, no. 10 (1985), pp. 34--36; Hayashi Minao, "Ryosho bunka to Daibunko bunka no zuzo kigo," Shirin 73, no. 5 (1990), pp. 116--34.
[2] Deng Shuping 鄧淑蘋, "Zhongguo xinshi qi shidai yuqi shang de shenmi fuhao 中國新石器時代玉器上的神秘符號," Gugong xueshu jikan 故宮學術季刊 10, no. 3 (1993), pp. 30--32, figs. 33--39; Huang Xuanpei 黃宣佩 supports this reading in regard to a similar motif on a cong 琮 in the Shanghai 上海 Museum, also citing evidence on black pottery from the Liangzhu 良渚 site at Fuquanshan 福泉山 (private communication).
[3] Deng Shuping 鄧淑蘋, "Zhongguo xinshi qi shidai yuqi shang de shenmi fuhao 中國新石器時代玉器上的神秘符號," Gugong xueshu jikan 故宮學術季刊 10, no. 3 (1993), figs. 9:1--2, 10:1--2a, 2b, 2c. Only the crescent appears on a slightly shorter cong 琮 (39.3 cm high) in the Shanghai 上海 Museum.
[4] Shandong sheng wenwu guanlichu 山東省文物管理處 and Jinan shi bowuguan 濟南市博物館, Dawenkou: Xinshiqi shidai muzang fajue baogao 大汶口：新石器時代墓葬發掘報告 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1974), figs. 94:1, 2, 5; Deng Shuping 鄧淑蘋, "Zhongguo xinshi qi shidai yuqi shang de shenmi fuhao 中國新石器時代玉器上的神秘符號," Gugong xueshu jikan 故宮學術季刊 10, no. 3 (1993), figs. 13, 37--39.
[5] Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu yanjiusuo 中國社會科學院考古研究所, Mengcheng Weichisi: Wanbei xinshiqi shidai juluo yicun de fajue yu yanjiu 蒙城尉遲寺：皖北新石器時代聚落遺存的發掘與研究 (Beijing: Kexue chubanshe, 2001), p. 245, fig. 198.
[6] Hayashi Minao, in "Ryosho bunka to Daibunko bunka no zuzo kigo," Shirin 73, no. 5 (1990), pp. 116--34, suggested that the Freer bracelet might be a stand of some sort because of its small size.
[7] Measurements are reported in Nanjing bowuyuan 南京博物院, "1987 nian Jiangsu Xinyi Huating yizhi de fajue 1987年江蘇新沂花廳遺址的發掘," Wenwu 文物 1990.2, pp. 1--26. Only the disk-shaped bracelet from M20 has an opening that is six centimeters or more.
[8] Hayashi Minao, "Ryosho bunka to Daibunko bunka no zuzo kigo," Shirin 73, no. 5 (1990), pp. 116--34. Deng Shuping 鄧淑蘋, "Zhongguo xinshi qi shidai yuqi shang de shenmi fuhao 中國新石器時代玉器上的神秘符號," Gugong xueshu jikan 故宮學術季刊 10, no. 3 (1993), pp. 1--50, and Zhang Minghua 張明華, Liangzhu Guyu 良渚古玉 = Jades of Liangzhu Culture (Taipei: Dujia chubanshe youxian gongsi, 1995), pp. 28--35, both agree with this interpretation.
[9] Hayashi Minao, "Ryosho bunka to Daibunko bunka no zuzo kigo," Shirin 73, no. 5 (1990), pp. 116--34.
[10] Chengdu shi wenwu kaogu yanjiusuo 成都市文物考古研究所 and Beijing daxue kaogu wenbo yuan 北京大學考古文博院, Jinsha taozhen: Chengdu shi Jinsha cun yizhi chutu wenwu 金沙淘珍--成都市金沙村遺址出土文物 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 2002), pp. 82--85. The author of the entry on this cong 琮 agrees that it was probably a Neolithic Liangzhu 良渚 artifact that somehow made its way upriver to Chengdu 成都 and was preserved until it was buried.
[11] See Zhejiang sheng wenwu kaogu yanjiusuo 浙江省文物考古研究所, Shanghai shi wenwu guanli weiyuanhui 上海市文物管理委员会, and Nanjing bowuyuan 南京博物院, Liangzhu wenhua yuqi 良渚文化玉器 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, and Hong Kong: Liangmu chubanshe, 1989), nos. 93, 94, 104, 109, 183; Zhongguo yuqi quanji bianji weiyuanhui 中國玉器全集編輯委員會, Zhongguo yuqi quanji 中國玉器全集 (Shijiazhuang: Hebei meishu chubanshe, 1992), vol. 1, cat. 260. Their resemblance in material to the Freer bracelet is confirmed by Wen Guang 聞廣 when he studied them at the Nanjing 南京 Museum. Wen also indicated that additional examples from the Zhanglingshan 張陵山 excavation currently kept at the Bureau for Administration of Cultural Relics (wenguanhui 文管會) in Wu xian 吳縣 in Zhejiang 浙江 province also show similar materials. Axes, bracelets, and pointed hair ornaments from Fuquanshan 福泉山 also show a similar unaltered pale yellowish-green material (Huang Xuanpei 黃宣佩, Fuquanshan: Xinshiqi shidai yizhi fajue baogao 福泉山：新石器时代遗址发掘报告 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 2000), pl. 27:5). The thin walls of the Freer bracelet are also seen on bracelets from Fuquanshan 福泉山.
[12] See Zhejiang sheng wenwu kaogu yanjiusuo 浙江省文物考古研究所, Shanghai shi wenwu guanli weiyuanhui 上海市文物管理委员会, and Nanjing bowuyuan 南京博物院, Liangzhu wenhua yuqi 良渚文化玉器 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe and Hong Kong: Liangmu chubanshe, 1989), nos. 197--98.
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