Jades for Life and Death

Classification: Ceremonial Object

Historical period(s): Late Neolithic period, ca. 3000-ca. 1700 BCE

Object Date: ca. 3000-ca. 1700 BCE

Medium: Jade (nephrite)

Dimension(s): Diam x D: 16.3 × 1.1 cm (6 7/16 × 7/16 in) Diam (hole): 6.9 cm (2 11/16 in)

Origin: China

Credit Line: Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Collection: Freer Gallery of Art Collection

Accession Number: F1918.33

: 璧
新石器時代晚期，公元前3000--1700年
中國
軟玉
直徑16.3、厚1.1釐米；孔徑6.9釐米
查爾斯·蘭·佛利爾贈送
器物編號: F1918.33

Provenance: To 1918
Wang Jiantang, Shanghai to 1918 [1]

From 1918 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Wang Jiantang, in New York, in 1918 [2]

From 1920
The Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]

Notes:

[1] See Original Miscellaneous List, S.I. 1361, pg. 315, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

[2] See note 1.

[3] 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): Wang Jiantang 王鑑堂 (C.L. Freer source) (late 19th-early 20th century)
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

Description: Perforated disc of the type pi [bi] 璧; large slightly oblique perforation; mottled light tan with pale green and flesh-colored tones and scattered white veins of incipient disintegration; surfaces satin smooth and minutely pitted, uneven in contour and thickness.

Acquired with a box, now lost.

Curatorial Remarks

1. Bought from K. T. Wong [Wang Jiantang] 王鑑堂, of Shanghai 上海, in New York. For price, see Original Miscellaneous List, p. 315. $150.

2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: Chinese. Chou [Zhou] 周. See further, S.I. 1361, Appendix LX.

3. (Isabel Ingram Mayer, 1945) Chou [Zhou] 周 dynasty. For discussion of type, see Folder F1939.14, note 3.

4. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Sp. G. is 2.927.

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

6. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, July 8, 2008) Ceremonial object added as secondary classification.

7. (Susan Kitsoulis per Keith Wilson, June 14, 2010) Object name changed from "Disk (bi 璧)" to "Ceremonial object."

8. (Jeffrey Smith per Janet Douglas, July 21, 2010) Nephrite added as modifier to existing medium of "jade" based on conservation analysis.

9. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, August 2, 2017) Title changed from "Disk (bi)" to "Disk (bi 璧)"; Period One changed from "Shang dynasty" to "Late Neolithic period"; added Chinese Translation by Jingmin Zhang; and Date changed from "ca. 1600-1050 BCE" to "ca. 3000-ca.1700 BCE".

Published References

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

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Disk (bi 璧)

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