Jades for Life and Death

Classification: Jewelry and Ornament

Maker(s): Artist: Songze culture 崧澤 (ca. 4000-2500 BCE), Liangzhu culture 良渚 (ca. 3300-ca. 2250 BCE)

Historical period(s): Late Neolithic period, ca. 3500-2700 BCE

Object Date: ca. 3500-2700 BCE

Medium: Jade (nephrite)

Dimension(s): H x Diam: 1.8 x 8.5 cm (3/4 x 3 5/16 in) Diam (hole): 5.3 cm (2 1/16 in)

Origin: China, Lake Tai region

Credit Line: Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Collection: Freer Gallery of Art Collection

Accession Number: F1919.48

: 手鐲
新石器時代晚期崧澤文化（公元前4000--2500年）或良渚文化（公元前3300--2250年）
中國太湖地區
軟玉
高1.8、直徑8.5釐米；孔徑5.3釐米
查爾斯·蘭·佛利爾贈送
器物編號：F1919.48

Provenance: To 1919
You Xiaoxi (late 19th-early 20th century), Shanghai, to 1919 [1]

1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from You Xiaoxi, in New York, in 1919 [2]

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

Notes:

[1] See Original Miscellaneous List, S.I. 1426, pg. 340, 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): You Xiaoxi 游篠溪 (C.L. Freer source) (late 19th-early 20th century)
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

Description: Bracelet; rounded outer surface; translucent, ice green with one dark tan area, scattered areas of smooth, white decomposition; white veinings and frosting of incipient disintegration over all surfaces. (Numerous old chips and cracked areas.)

Acquired with a box, now lost.

Past label text: Liangzhu 良渚 and its Legacy, November 4, 2010–January 3, 2016; by Keith Wilson (shown with F1917.141, F1917.81, F1919.46; additional jade pendant and head ornaments shown in same case)
Bracelet
China, late Neolithic period, ca. 3300–1700 BCE
Liangzhu 良渚 culture, ca. 3300–2250 BCE
Jade (nephrite)

Since the earliest of times, jade was treasured as a material of status in China. This rare and beautifully colored stone was transformed into bracelets, pendants, head ornaments, and other forms of jewelry. Some of the examples found in Lianghzu 良渚 culture tombs must have played a ritual function, for many pieces bear a mask motif that is also commonly found on objects surely created for burial rites. Previous owners cleaned and repeatedly handled these jades, which were possibly unearthed centuries ago, and over time the fine surface details were obscured and the color and translucency of the natural stone dulled.

2. (Keith Wilson, "Afterlife: Ancient Chinese Jades," Gallery 19, Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Oct. 14, 2017 to Apr 15, 2018)

Bracelets
Liangzhu culture, ca. 3300–2250 BCE
China, late Neolithic period, ca. 3300–1700 BCE
Jade (nephrite)
Gift of Charles Lang Freer F1919.48

Status Symbols
Special bracelets, pendants, and head ornaments found in tombs must have played a ritual function in the lives of the Liangzhu people. A mask motif is commonly found on objects created for ceremonies and burial rites. Examples seen here emphasize the large eyes and oblong mouth in relief that were created by laboriously grinding away the surrounding background. Decorated jade plaques with a rounded top like these have been discovered near skulls in tombs. Pairs of holes on the back suggest the plaques were once sewn to a leather or cloth headdress worn by the deceased.

Curatorial Remarks

1. Bought from Seaouke Yue [You Xiaoxi] 游筱溪 of Shanghai 上海, in New York. For price, see Original Miscellaneous List, p. 340.

2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: Chinese. Chou [Zhou] 周. See further, S.I. 1426, Appendix IX.

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

4. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Sp. G. is 2.946.

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.

7. (Julia K. Murray, 1982) For a discussion of bangles, see Folder Sheet F1917.387. Bangle F1919.48 is very similar to F1919.49 in overall size and shape, although its walls are somewhat thicker and the diameter of the hole correspondingly smaller.

8. (Stephen Allee per Keith Wilson, March 3, 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, May 12, 2010) Nephrite added as modifier to existing medium of "jade" based on conservation analysis.

12. (Susan Kitsoulis per Keith Wilson, June 10, 2010) Added "Songze 崧澤 culture" to artist constituent field; date changed from "3300--2250 BCE" to "ca. 3500--2700 BCE."

Unpublished Research: Draft catalogue entry for F1919.48; by Jenny F. So (2003)

Bracelet
Neolithic period, 3rd millennium BCE
Liangzhu 良渚 culture, Lake Tai 太湖 region
Nephrite, translucent apple-green with white and ivory streaks
Diameter 8.23--8.46 cm; of hole 5.13--5.27 cm; height 1.52--1.83 cm
F1919.48

A robust bracelet with rounded cross-section and straight inner walls is unevenly shaped and of irregular thickness. The undecorated surface has been polished to a soft, lustrous finish that displays the natural color and translucence of the material at its best.

The smoothly rounded silhouette demands more effort to make, as the bracelet started off as a roughly rectangular slice. The work required to produce its convex outer wall is considerably greater that that needed to simply round off the angular edges as in F1919.50. Coupled with its choice of material, it would be reasonable to see the wearer of bracelets like these enjoying certain distinction within a community.

In shape, its generously thick but unevenly shaped silhouette are duplicated by bracelets also recovered from the Lianzhu 良渚 site at Yuhang 餘杭 Yaoshan 瑤山 and Fuquanshan 福泉山. [1] Although most of them are plain, in rare instances, they carry carefully worked designs that rival the best of modern lapidary products (fig. 1). In terms of material, an axe from Yuhang 餘杭 Fanshan 反山 shows a similarly translucent apple-green under altered white streaks, one of the best materials reserved for some of the most important objects made by the people. [2]

Published: Julia K. Murray, "Neolithic Chinese Jades in the Freer Gallery of Art," Orientations 14, no. 11 (1983), p. 21.

Figure:
1. Bracelet with twisted rope design (Zhejiang sheng wenwu kaogu yanjiusuo 浙江省文物考古研究所, Shanghai shi wenwu guanli weiyuanhui 上海市文物管理委员会, and Nanjing bowuyuan 南京博物院, Liangzhu wenhua yuqi 良渚文化玉器 [Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, and Hong Kong: Liangmu chubanshe, 1989], no. 99).

[1] For examples, see Zhejiang sheng wenwu kaogu yanjiusuo 浙江省文物考古研究所, Shanghai shi wenwu guanli weiyuanhui 上海市文物管理委员会, and Nanjing bowuyuan 南京博物院, Liangzhu wenhua yuqi 良渚文化玉器 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, and Hong Kong: Liangmu chubanshe, 1989), no. 97; Huang Xuanpei 黃宣佩, Fuquanshan: Xinshiqi shidai yizhi fajue baogao 福泉山：新石器时代遗址发掘报告 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 2000), color plate 27:1.

[2] Zhejiang sheng wenwu kaogu yanjiusuo 浙江省文物考古研究所, Shanghai shi wenwu guanli weiyuanhui 上海市文物管理委员会, and Nanjing bowuyuan 南京博物院, Liangzhu wenhua yuqi 良渚文化玉器 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, and Hong Kong: Liangmu chubanshe, 1989), nos. 237--38. No published image of this axe does justice to its brilliant apple-green color under the dense white streaks from alteration. This can only be seen when viewing the original object, something that the author was privileged to experience courtesy of Mou Yongkang 牟永康 in 1994

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. 96, p. 66, 73.
Julia Murray. Neolithic Chinese Jades in the Freer Gallery of Art. vol. 14, no. 11 Hong Kong, November 1983. p. 21.

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