Jades for Life and Death

Classification: Ceremonial Object

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): Diam x D: 19.5 x 1.5 cm (7 11/16 x 9/16 in)

Origin: China, Lake Tai region, but purportedly found at Luoyang, Henan province

Notes: but purportedly found at Luoyang, Henan province

Credit Line: Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Collection: Freer Gallery of Art Collection

Accession Number: F1919.25

: 璧
新石器時代晚期良渚文化（公元前3300--2250年）
中國太湖地區，原傳河南洛陽出土
軟玉
直徑19.5、厚1.5釐米
查爾斯·蘭·佛利爾贈送
器物編號：F1919.25

Provenance: Reportedly excavated in Lo-yang, Honan [1]

Duanfang (1861-1911) [2]

To 1919
You Xiaoxi (late 19th-early 20th century), Shanghai to 1919 [3]

1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from You Xiaoxi, in New York in 1919 [4]

From 1920
Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [5]

Notes:

[1] According to Curatorial Remark 1 in the object record: "Formerly in the collection of the Viceroy Tuan Fang, and said to have been excavated at Lo-yang, Honan."

[2] See note 1.

[3] See Original Miscellaneous List, S.I. 1404, pg. 329, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

[4] See note 3.

[5] 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): Duanfang 端方 (1861-1911)
You Xiaoxi 游篠溪 (C.L. Freer source) (late 19th-early 20th century)
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

Description: Perforated disk of the type pi [bi] 璧; bored from both sides, leaving median ridge; obverse is mottled medium to very dark green with traces of brown, about half the surface is clouded with gray incipient disintegration, reverse is completely but thinly covered with the same; some saw marks on each surface. (Several chipped areas on rim.)

Acquired with a box, now lost.

Curatorial Remarks

1. Bought from Seaouke Yue [You Xiaoxi] 游筱溪 of Shanghai 上海, in New York. Formerly in the collection of the Viceroy Tuan Fang [Duanfang] 端方 and said to have been excavated in Lo yang [Luoyang] 洛陽, Honan [Henan] 河南. For price, see Original Miscellaneous List, p. 329. $150.

2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: Chinese. Chou [Zhou] 周. See further, S.I. 1404, Appendix IX.

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

4. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Sp. G. is 2.998. Nephrite.

5. (H. Elise Buckman, 1964) The Envelope File contained no further information, and has now been destroyed.

6. (Thomas Lawton, 1978) Attribution changed from Chou [Zhou] 周 to Neolithic. See Folder Sheet for F1917.19.

7. (Stephen Allee per Keith Wilson, March 3, 2008) On this date entered: Period One (Late Neolithic period), Date (ca. 5000--ca. 1700 BCE), Artist (Liangzhu 良渚 culture), Title, Object name, Geographical region (Lake Tai 太湖 region); plus Description per Jenny F. So and Dimensions per Christine Lee, from Jade Project Database.

8. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, July 17, 2008) Ceremonial Objects added as secondary classification.

9. (Jeffrey Smith, April 12, 2016) Transferred from Description: (Jenny So, from Jade Project Database) Mottled medium to dark green with brown. Biconical hole, off-center, with ridge at meeting point. Unevenly round and thick. Surface uneven, curved slice marks on both faces.

Perforated disc of the type "pi;" bored from both sides leaving median ridge; obverse is mottled medium to very dark green with traces of brown, about half the surface is clouded with gray incipient disintegration, reverse is completely but thinly covered with the same; some saw marks on each surface. Several chipped areas on rim. Box.

Published References

J. Keith Wilson, Jingmin Zhang. Jades for Life and Death. .
You Xiaoxi. Description of antique Chinese paintings and brass wares as well as of porcelains of different ages, The Charles Lang Freer papers., 1919. No. 72, p. 54, 66.

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Disk (bi 璧)

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