Pendant in the form of a female dancer, fragment

1.  From original Folder Sheet note: Late Eastern Chou [Zhou] 周.

Bought from Yamanaka and Company, New York, NY. For price, see Freer Gallery of Art Purchase List After 1920.

2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: Han 漢 dynasty.

3. (John Ellerton Lodge, 1939) 3rd century BCE or earlier, Late Chou [Zhou] 周. See pendant on the necklace F1930.27, composed of two similar figures.

4. (Isabel Ingram Mayer, 1946) The arm, which is broken, probably curved above the head and had an eyelet for upright suspension as in F1938.16.

5. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Sp. G. is 2.935. Partial decomposition and earth incrustations prevent an accurate reading for nephrite.

6. (Julia K. Murray, 1980) Exhibition Ancient Chinese Jade label text; moved to label field. See F1938.16.

7. (Thomas Lawton, Chinese Art of the Warring States Period: Change and Community, 480-222 B.C. [Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1982], cat. no. 78) A single dancing figure, fashioned of highly polished cream colored jade, stands with one arm held at the side and covered with the folds of a voluminous sleeve. Extending from the end of the sleeve is a foliate shaped streamer that may represent an inner garment. The other arm is upraised and probably curved above the head (see F1930.27 and F1938.16), although in its present fragmentary condition, the sleeve ends just above the cross hatched border of the jacket. The same type of fine crosshatching decorates the border of the other sleeve. Straight lines embellish the vertical edge of the robe, which folds in at the waist, reappears on the opposite side only to disappear, and then emerges at the bottom hemline. A wide sash worn at the waist emphasizes the curvilinear streamers that radiate outward and striated pleats that fall to the hem. Both feet are shown in profile, and judging from the low relief modeling, the figure wears thick soled shoes that turn up at the toe where there is a twisted ornament. Facial details are similarly rendered, with attention given to the hair, which is tied at the back and falls in long tiered tresses. A small, pierced loop at the base of the pendant probably was used to attach another ornament.

The human figure played a minor role in the repertoire of Chinese artists during the Shang 商 and Western Chou [Zhou] 周  periods. During the Eastern Chou [Zhou] 周, representations of male and female figures became more common. The sophistication of dancers of the type depicted on this pendant indicates that artists of the Warring States period imbued the human figure with the same abstract elegance that is so characteristic of their rendering in jade of birds and animals.

Umehara Sueji 梅原末治 includes this pendant in his study of objects said to have been unearthed at Chin ts'un [Jincun] 金村, near Loyang [Luoyang] 洛陽, Honan [Henan] 河南 province. [1]

[1] Umehara Sueji 梅原末治, Rakuyō Kinson kobo shūei 洛陽金村古墓聚英 (Kyoto: Kobayashi shashin seihanjo shuppanbu, 1937), pl. 84:2. The pendant has also been illustrated and discussed by Alfred Salmony, Carved Jades of Ancient China (Berkeley, CA: Gillick Press, 1938), pl. 50:2-3; Mizuno Seiichi 水野清一, In Shū seidōki to tama 殷周青銅器と玉 (Tokyo: Nihon Keizai shimbunsha, 1959), pl. 163g.

8. (Stephen Allee per Keith Wilson, June 19, 2008) Deleted "Jincun 金村" from Artist; added "Possibly Jincun 金村, Henan 河南  province" to Geographical location, Origin. As per Jenny F. So, Jade Project Database, changed Date from "5th-4th century BCE" to "475-221 BCE." Added designation "nephrite" to Medium as per Elizabeth West Fitzhugh, as determined by X ray diffraction in June 1956. Also changed Object Name from "Pendant: dancer" to "Jewelry"; changed Title from "Ornament" to "Pendant in the form of a female dancer." Added Dimensions per Christine Lee, from Jade Project Database.

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

10. (Susan Kitsoulis per Keith Wilson, May 24, 2010) Changed Object Name from "Pendant: dancer" to "Jewelry."

11. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, January 24, 2022) Object Name changed from "Jewelry" to "Pendant". Title changed from "Pendant in the form of a female dancer" to "Pendant in the form of a female dancer, fragment".