Disk (bi) with raised uniform curls

1. Bought from Seaouke Yue [You Xiaoxi] 游筱溪, of Shanghai 上海. Formerly in the collection of the Viceroy Tuan Fang [Duanfang] 端方, and said to have been excavated in Sianfu [Xi'an] 西安, Shensi [Shaanxi] 陝西. For price, see Original Miscellaneous List, page 331.

2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: Chou [Zhou] 周. See further, S.I. 1408, Appendix IX.

3. (Isabel Ingram Mayer, 1945) Late Chou [Zhou] dynasty. For discussion of type "pi [bi] 璧," see Folder Sheet F1939.14, note 3.

4. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Sp. G. is 2.968. Nephrite.

5. (Thomas Lawton, 1973) The following information was carved on the box in which this object arrived: Chou ku pi [Zhou gu bi] 周榖璧.  T'ao chai ts'ang yu [Taozhai cang yu] 陶齋藏玉.

6. (Thomas Lawton, 1978) Late Eastern Chou [Zhou] 周, Warring States period. See Folder Sheet for F1916.510.

7. (Thomas Lawton, Chinese Art of the Warring States Period: Change and Continuity, 480--222 B.C. [Washington, DC: Freer Gallery of Art, 1982], cat. no. 119) The perforated disk of slightly irregular shape is made of translucent, dark gray green nephrite. Raised, flat borders frame the spirals, which are modeled in low relief and  arranged in a geometric grid. The relatively large size of the spirals results in a dense pattern on both sides of the  disk. When compared with the spiral decoration on several jades purported to have been unearthed at Chin ts'un [Jincun] 金村  near Loyang [Luoyang] 洛陽, Honan [Henan] 河南 Province, the density of the spirals on the Freer disk is particularly apparent. [1]

Although the disk traditionally is said to have been unearthed in Shensi [Shaanxi] 陝西 Province, pieces of related decoration  and workmanship have been found elsewhere. [2] Comparable disks are also in the Freer Collection (cat. no. 118, F1919.24) and in the Fogg Museum. [3]

[1] William Charles White, Tombs of Old Lo Yang: A Record of the Construction and Contents of a Group of Royal Tombs at Chin ts'un, Probably Dating to 550 B.C. (Shanghai: Kelly and Walsh Limited, 1934), pls. 125, 128, 131.

[2] Chung-kuo k'o-hsueh-yuan k'ao-ku yen-chiu-so [Zhongguo kexueyuan kaogu yanjiusuo] 中國科學院考古研究所, Hui Hsien fa-chueh pao-kao [Hui xian fajue baogao] 輝縣發掘報告 (Beijing: Kexue chubanshe, 1956), pl. 78:20.

[3] Max Loehr, Ancient Chinese Jades from the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection in the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University (Cambridge, MA: Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, 1975), p. 274.

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

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

10. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, June 5, 2023) Title changed from "Disk (bi)" to "Disk (bi) with raised uniform curls"; added Period Two as "Warring States period"; Date changed from "4th-3rd century BCE" to "475-221 BCE"; Geography changed from "China" to "China, purportedly found at Shaanxi province, Xi’an"; added Chinese Translation by Jingmin Zhang; and updated the Description field.