Harvesting knife (hu 笏), fragment

1. Bought from Seaouke Yue [You Xiaoxi] 游筱溪, of Shanghai 上海, in New York. Said to have been excavated at An Hsi [Anxi] 安溪, in Chekiang [Zhejiang] 浙江. For price, see Voucher no. 32, August 1919. (Original Miscellaneous List, p. 347).
 
2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: Chinese. Chou [Zhou] 周. See further, S.I. 1440.
 
3. (John Ellerton Lodge, 1929) Chou [Zhou] 周.
 
4. (Archibald Gibson Wenley, 1943) Type hu 笏.
 
5. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Sp. G. is 2.999. Nephrite.
 
6. (H. Elise Buckman, 1964) The Envelope File contained no further information, and has now been destroyed.
 
7. (Thomas Lawton, 1978) Late Shang 商.
 
8. (Julia K. Murray, 1980) Attribution is changed from Late Shang 商 to Shang 商. 
 
9. (Julia K. Murray, 1982) The parallel and crisscross lines incised on one side of F1919.60 are a design also found on a large and magnificent jade blade with seven perforations from Erh li t'ou [Erlitou] 二里頭, Yen shih [Yanshi] 偃師, Honan [Henan] 河南 (for discussion, see Wen Fong, ed., The Great Bronze Age of China: An Exhibition from The People's Republic of China [New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1980], cat. no. 3), attributed to the Early Shang 商 period. The excavated blade is also incised on only one side, but at both ends; perhaps F1919.60 was originally a longer blade of the same type that got broken and lost one of its decorated ends. The absence of a bevel there supports the possibility that the undecorated end has been refinished.

For further discussion, see F1917.24.
 
10. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, July 8, 2008) Ceremonial object added as secondary classification.
 
11. (Susan Kitsoulis per Keith Wilson, April 2, 2010) Object name changed from "Ceremonial implement" to "Ceremonial object"; Title from "Ceremonial implement of the type hu 笏" to "Harvesting knife (hu 笏)."

12. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, August 15, 2017) Title changed from "Harvesting knife (hu)" to "Harvesting knife (hu 笏), fragment"; period one changed from "Shang dynasty" to "Late Neolithic period"; date changed from "ca. 1600-1050 BCE" to "ca. 2000-ca. 1600 BCE"; medium changed from "Jade" to "Jade (nephrite)"; dimensions changed from "H x W x D: 33.3 x 8.8 x 0.8 cm (13 1/8 x 3 7/16 x 5/16 in)" to "H x W x D: 8.8 × 33.3 × 0.8 cm (3 7/16 × 13 1/8 × 5/16 in)".

11. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, November 28, 2018) Description changed from "Tablet, in long narrow trapezoidal form, a fragment of a larger original. Single bevel on one face; double bevel on the other. Type "hu." Two perforations. Box.
Color: dull olive-green, slightly mottled, and with grayish areas of incipient disintegration. Decoration incised. Textile impression on both sides." to "Tablet, in long narrow trapezoidal form, a fragment of a larger original. Single bevel on one face; double bevel on the other. Type hu. Two perforations. (Color: dull olive green, slightly mottled, and with grayish areas of incipient disintegration. Decoration incised. Textile impression on both sides.) Acquired with a box, now lost."; constiuent changed from "Sanxingdui culture, ca. 2000-1000 BCE" to "Erlitou culture (ca. 2000-1600 BCE); geography changed from "Sichuan province, China" to "China."

12. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, April 28, 2020) Geography changed to "probably Henan provice, China."