Bracelet

• 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. For price, see Original Miscellaneous List, p. 341.

  2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: Chinese. Period unknown. See further, S.I. 1428, Appendix IX.

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

  4. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Sp. G. is 2.782.

  5. (Elisabeth West Fitzhugh, 1958) Nephrite. X ray diffraction, film F 612.

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

  7. (Thomas Lawton, 1973) The following information was carved on the box in which this object arrived: Chou yuan [Zhou yuan] 周瑗. T'ao chai ts'ang [Taozhai cang] 陶齋藏.

  8. (Thomas Lawton, 1978) Attribution changed from Chou [Zhou] 周 to Neolithic.
   
  9. (Julia K. Murray, 1982) For a discussion of bangles, see F1917.387.
   
  Among the excavated bangles mentioned on the Folder Sheet for F1917.387, one excavated at Ta hsi [Daxi] 大溪, Szechwan [Sichuan] 四川, most closely resembles Freer bangle F1919.50 (see Szechwan sheng po-wu-kuan [Sichuan sheng bowuguan] 四川省博物館, "Wu-shan Ta-hsi i-chih ti-san-tzu fa-chueh [Wushan Daxi yizhi disanci fajue] 巫山大溪遺址第三次發掘," K'ao ku hsueh pao [Kaogu xuebao] 考古學報 1981.4, pl. 8:9 [M140:19]).

  "3rd millennium BCE" is added to the date.

  10. (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.

  11. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, July 1, 2008) Jewelry added as secondary classification.

  12. (Stephen Allee, March 23, 2009) Added designation "nephrite" to Medium as per Janet Douglas using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (January 8, 2009).

  13. (Susan Kitsoulis per Keith Wilson, June 11, 2010) Added "Songze 崧澤 culture" to artist constituents; date changed from "3300--2250 BCE" to "ca. 3500--2700 BCE."
  
  
  

Draft catalogue entry for F1919.50; by Jenny F. So (2003)

Bracelet
Neolithic period, 3rd millennium BCE
Linagzhu 良渚 culture, Lake Tai 太湖 region
Nephrite, opaque mottled golden tan and cream with darker brown patches
Diameter 7.76--7.91 cm; of hole 5.91─6.09 cm; height 1.53─1.58 cm; 1.00─1.11 cm thick
F1919.50

This bracelet is generously thick, with a rectangular cross-section. It is not perfectly shaped, with unevenness in many places. The inner wall of the hole is slightly convex, suggesting that it was ground smooth from an opening drilled from both directions.

The Duanfang 端方 province is indicated by the box that accompanied this bracelet, which had the characters "Zhou yuan 周瑗, Taozhai cang 陶齋藏" carved onto it. Taozhai 陶齋 is the studio name most often used by Duanfang 端方, and his jade collection was published under this name. [1]

Unlike bracelets with rounded sections such as F1919.48, bracelets with rectangular sections require relatively less effort to make because they can simply be sliced from a mother rock, perforated, then ground smooth. Pottery versions of similar bracelets have been found on the wrist of tomb occupants at Dawenkou 大汶口 in Shangdong 山東 province. [2] Stone versions were already made and buried at Songze 崧澤, an earlier contemporary of Dawenkou 大汶口 in the Shanghai 上海 area dating from the late fourth millennium BCE. [3] Jade bracelets of different cross-sections have also been recovered further upstream at Qianshan 潛山, Xuejiagang 薛家崗, a contemporaneous site. [4] By the height of the Liangzhu 良渚 culture in the third millennium BCE, a wide range of types, some with unusual decorations (F1917.141, F1917.385, and F1919.46), were being made. [5]

[1] Wang Ta-lung [Wang Dalong] 王大隆, T'ao-chai ku-yu t'u [Taozhai guyu tu] 陶齋古玉圖 (Shanghai: Laiqing ge, 1936). This particular bracelet is not included in the catalogue

[2] Shandong sheng wenwu kaogu yanjiusuo 山東省文物考古研究所, Dawenkou xuji: Dawenkou yizhi di er, san ci fajue baogao 大汶口續集：大汶口遺址第二、三次發掘報告 (Beijing: Kexue chubanshe, 1997), pls. 45:4, 92:1.

[3] Shanghai shi wenwu baoguan weiyuanhui 上海市文物保管委員會, Songze: Xinshiqi shidai yizhi fajue baogao 崧澤--新時期時代遺址發掘報告 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1987), colorplate 4:6.

[4] Anhui sheng wenwu gongzuodui 安徽省文物工作隊, "Qianshan Xuejiagang xinshiqi shidai yizhi 潛山薛家崗新石器時代遺址," Kaogu xuebao 考古學報 1982.3, p. 313, figs. 28:5─9.

[5] 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), colorplates 27:2─4 illustrate rectangular bracelets in a range of heights. 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. 191 for a bracelet from Caoxieshan 草鞋山 made from a very similar material.

• 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. p.67, 71, No. 98.