Sword scabbard chape with geometric decoration

1. Bought from Seaouke Yue [You Xiaoxi] 游筱溪, of Shanghai 上海. For price, see Original Miscellaneous List, p. 306.

2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: Chinese. Shang 商. See further, S.I. 1334, Appendix VIII. Excavated in Shensi [Shaanxi] 陝西 Province.

3. (John Ellerton Lodge, 1927) Han 漢 or earlier.

4. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Sp. G. is 2.957.

5. (Isabel Ingram Mayer, 1945) Late Chou [Zhou] 周 dynasty. See Berthold Laufer, Jade: A Study in Chinese Archaeology and Religion (Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History, 1912), p. 283, fig. 187.

6. (George Perkins Merrill, 1922) Nephrite. I should call that white jade. Color due to weathering through burial.

7. (William B. Trousdale, 1964) Han 漢 dynasty. Scabbard chape. This piece, and its near counterpart F1917.513, do not seem thoroughly Chinese. I suspect they are to be considered as work by Sinicized north border people. They are much larger and heavier than the normal Chinese chape. The ornamentation is crudely executed; the cross like motif resembles leather, felt, or thin metal cut out work done by northern peoples in Western Han 漢 times.

8. (Thomas Lawton, 1978) This type of scabbard chape grew out of Late Eastern Chou [Zhou] 周 examples such as F1919.41. The design is oriented to being seen by the wearer of the sword as he looks down onto the scabbard. Western Han 漢.

9. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, August 12, 2008) Weapon and Armament 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.

11. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, February 2, 2024) Title changed from "Sword fitting: scabbard ornament" to "Sword scabbard chape with geometric decoration"; Title changed from "Western Han dynasty" to "Han dynasty"; Date changed from "206 BCE-9 CE" to "206 BCE–220 CE"; and added Chinese caption by Jingmin Zhang.

Removed the following from the Description field: "Chinese
Han, Western

Sword fitting. Scabbard ornament; flattened bell shape, three perforations on top; translucent, greenish white with earth-colored coating and scattered areas of chalky white decomposition in rough granular pits; decoration: in sensible relief and incised, alike on both sides, conventionalized form of "t'iao-t'ieh" mask; geometric design on base. Box. One of a pair; see 17.513." Added the following to the Description field: "Sword fitting: Scabbard ornament; flattened bell shape, three perforations on top; translucent, greenish white with earth colored coating and scattered areas of chalky white decomposition in rough granular pits; decoration: in sensible relief and incised, alike on both sides, conventionalized form of t’ao t’ieh [taotie] mask; geometric design on base."