Jades for Life and Death

Classification: Jewelry and Ornament

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 Diam: 1.9 x 8.1 cm (3/4 x 3 3/16 in) Diam (hole): 6.1 cm (2 3/8 in)

Origin: China, Lake Tai region, but purportedly found in Shaanxi

Notes: but purportedly found in Shaanxi

Credit Line: Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Collection: Freer Gallery of Art Collection

Accession Number: F1917.386

: 手鐲
新石器時代晚期良渚文化（公元前3300--2250年）
中國太湖地區，原傳陝西出土
軟玉
高1.9、直徑8.1釐米；孔徑6.1釐米
查爾斯·蘭·佛利爾贈送
器物編號：F1917.386

Provenance: Reportedly excavated in Shensi province [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 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. 1326, pg. 304, 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: Bracelet, with slightly flattened sides and rounded outer surface; mottled yellow green, tan, and browns; sprinkled with milky white areas of incipient disintegration, more profuse in inner surface; proportions uneven; some tool marks on rim.

Acquired with a box, now lost.

Curatorial Remarks

1. Bought from Seaouke Yue [You Xiaoxi] 游筱溪, of Shanghai 上海. Said to have been excavated in Shensi [Shaanxi] 陝西. For price, see Original Miscellaneous List, p. 304.

2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: Chinese. Hsia [Xia] 夏. See further, S.I. 1326, Appendix VIII.

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

4. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Sp. G. is 2.885.

5. (Thomas Lawton, 1978) Attribution changed from Chou [Zhou] 周 to Neolithic.

6. (Julia K. Murray, 1980) Added "Traditional Shensi [Shaanxi] 陝西 provenance" to the attribution.

7. (Julia K. Murray, 1982) For a discussion of bangles, see Folder Sheet F1917.387. Bangle F1917.386 is very similar in shape and proportions to two that were excavated from graves in the upper layer at Ta hsi [Daxi] 大溪, Wu shan [Wushan] 巫山 in Szechwan [Sichuan] 四川 province (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. 8:9 [M140:19]; and Szechwan Ch'ang-chiang liu-yu wen-wu pao-hu wei-yuan-hui wen-wu k'ao-ku-tui [Sichuan Changjiang liuyu wenwu baohu weiyuanhui wenwu kaogudui] 四川長江流域文物保護委員會文物考古隊, "Szechwan Wu-shan Ta-hsi hsin-shih-ch'i shih-tai i-chih fa-chueh chi-lueh [Sichuan Wushan Daxi xinshiqi shidai yizhi fajue jilue] 四川巫山大溪新石器時代遺址發掘記略," Wen wu [Wenwu] 文物 1961.11, p. 21, fig. 35, right [M6]). The Ta hsi [Daxi] 大溪 Neolithic culture is thought to have preceded the Ch'u chia ling [Qujialing] 屈家嶺 culture in the middle Yangtze 揚子 area, and the upper layer at Ta hsi [Daxi] 大溪 is tentatively attributed to the 4th millennium BCE.

8. (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.

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

10. (Jeffrey Smith per Janet Douglas, June 17, 2010) Nephrite added as modifier to existing medium of "jade" based on conservation analysis.

Published References

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

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