Object: Pestle with handle in form of a monkey S2012.9.241

Classification: Sculpture

Historical period(s): Anyang period, Late Shang dynasty, ca. 1250-ca. 1050 BCE

Object Date: ca. 1250-ca. 1050 BCE

Medium: Marble

Dimension(s): H x W x D: 16.2 × 3.8 × 2.5 cm (6 3/8 × 1 1/2 × 1 in)

Origin: China, probably Henan province, Anyang

Credit Line: The Dr. Paul Singer Collection of Chinese Art of the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; a joint gift of the Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, Paul Singer, the AMS Foundation for the Arts, Sciences, and Humanities, and the Children of Arthur M. Sackler

Collection: Arthur M. Sackler Collection

Accession Number: S2012.9.241

: 猴形柄杵
晚商安陽時期（公元前1250-1050年）
中國，疑似河南安陽市
大理石
高16、寬3.8、厚2.7釐米
史密森博物學院亞瑟·M·賽克勒美術館保羅·辛格中國藝術收藏品；亞瑟·M·賽克勒基金會，保羅·辛格，AMS基金會，及亞瑟·M·賽克勒子女聯合贈送
器物編號：S2012.9.241

Provenance: 1938 to 1948
C. T. Loo & Company, New York, NY acquired on September 22, 1938 [1]

1948 to 1953
C. T. Loo, INC. by transfer from C. T. Loo & Company, NY [2]

1953 to 1954
C. T. Loo Chinese Art, New York by transfer from C. T. Loo & Company, NY [3]

1954 to 1997
Dr. Paul Singer, Summit, NJ purchased from C. T. Loo & Company on June 8, 1954 in New York, NY [2]

1997 to 1999
In the custody of the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, upon Paul Singer’s death in January 1997 and a loan agreement between the Executors of the Singer Estate and the Gallery in February 1997 [3]

From 1999
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, gift of the Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, Paul Singer, the AMS Foundation for the Arts, Sciences, and Humanities, and the Children of Dr. Arthur M. Sackler [4]

Notes:

[1] See C. T. Loo & Company stock card J.D. 38/03, which notes “22-Sept- 38” in the upper left corner, copy in object file. The card notes a second inventory number, E 5826. This second number was likely assigned by Frank Caro around 1953, see note 2.

[2] C. T. Loo (1880-1957) formed C. T. Loo, INC. in 1948, when his company, C. T. Loo & Company lost access to suppliers in China. The company closed by the summer of 1953, after Loo appointed his associate, Frank Caro as the manager and leader of the New York branch of C. T. Loo & Company. Caro assumed leadership in 1952 and in 1953 began operating as C. T. Loo Chinese Art, New York and dissolved C. T. Loo, INC.

[3] See note 2 and invoice from C. T. Loo Chinese Art to Dr. Paul Singer, June 8, 1954, copy in object file. Object described: “Pestle with Monkey Handle – White marble calcified with a smooth light brown or rough white surface, Shang – Height: 6-1/4 inches. Column with knob at base covered with deeply striated lines. On opposite end a monkey stand, large head with protruding ear, wide nose, mouth, arms together in front of body, long tai coiled around column. The body of monkey has overall engraved designs, a bottle-horned t’ao t’ieh on his shoulders, a cicada on his stomach, spirals on arms and legs and lozenges on the tail.”

The collection of Chinese art and antiquities assembled by Paul Singer was purchased by him on behalf of Dr. Arthur M. Sackler, Jillian Sackler, the Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, the AMS Foundation for the Arts, Sciences, and Humanities and later was transferred to the children of Dr. Arthur M. Sackler.

[4] The Dr. Paul Singer Collection of Chinese Art came into the custody of the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, upon Paul Singer’s death in January 1997 and a loan agreement between the Executors of the Singer Estate and the Gallery in February 1997.

[5] See “The Dr. Paul Singer Collection of Chinese Art Gift Agreement,” March 1999, Collections Management Office. This object was formally accessioned into the museum collection in 2012.

Previous owner(s): C.T. Loo & Company (1914-1948)
C.T. Loo, INC. (ca. 1948-no later than July 1953)
C.T. Loo Chinese Art (1953-1961)
Dr. Paul Singer (1904-1997)

Past label text: 1. (Keith Wilson, Anyang: China's Ancient City of Kings, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, February 25, 2023 to April 28, 2024)

Jarlet and Pestle with monkey
Anyang period, ca. 1250–1050 BCE

Marble
The Dr. Paul Singer Collection of Chinese Art of the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; a joint gift of The Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, Paul Singer, the AMS Foundation for the Arts, Sciences, and Humanities, and the Children of Arthur M. Sackler S2010.40 and S2012.9.241

Treasured Possessions
Richly furnished Anyang tombs contained an array of luxuries, including jewelry and small personal objects—their number and type helping to indicate the status and interests of the deceased. Crafted from a variety of valued materials, these precious ornaments for the afterlife also offer insights into the fashion of the living. Carved bone hairpins and jade (nephrite) pendants and fittings were often inspired by the natural world; the depictions on their surfaces range from lifelike to abstract. Most remarkable are designs inspired by the supernatural (including combat between a dragon and bird) and ancient objects. The circular dragon pendant is based on a Neolithic prototype predating Anyang by two thousand years.

Curatorial Remarks

1. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, June 19, 2008) Stone added as secondary classification.

2. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, August 28, 2017) Period two changed from "early Anyang period" to "Anyang period"; geography changed from "China, Henan province, Anyang" to "China, probably Henan province, Anyang"; and date changed from "ca. 1300-1200 BCE" to "ca. 1300-ca. 1050 BCE".

3. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, January 30, 2019) Title changed from "Pestle with handle in the form of a monkey" to "Pestle with handle in form of a monkey"; added Chinese translation by Jingmin Zhang. Unpublished research by Louise Fitzgerald Huber was removed from curatorial remarks section, and moved under the unpublished research text entry field.
4. (YinYing Chen per Keith Wilson, February 16, 2023)
Change date from "ca. 1300-ca. 1050 BCE" to "ca. 1250-1050 BCE."
Change date from "公元前1300-1050年" to "公元前1250-1050年" in the translation field.
Change medium from "軟玉" to "大理石".

Unpublished Research: Draft catalogue entry (no. 75) for S2012.9.241 for the catalogue of the Singer collection (1970--90); by Louisa Fitzgerald Huber

Pestle
Shang 商 dynasty, 13th century BCE
Marble
Length 16.5 cm (62 in)

The cylindrical stem of the pestle, encircled toward either end by a pair of recessed lines, widens at the rounded tip, which is scored by parallel grooves. At the opposite end, the stem is surmounted by a disk, embellished by a lozenge pattern around the outer edge, which provides a pedestal for the sculpted figure of a monkey that serves as the handle. The monkey, who stands on two bent legs, supported at the back by its tail, is shown with his head tilted upward and his arms raised, presumably in a gesture of supplication. Its body is covered by designs in recessed lines, comprising the figures of two bottle horned dragons seen on its back; a cicada on its chest; and a pattern of boxed diamonds on its tail. The surface of the left side of the figure is partly corroded.

An early Anyang 安陽 date for the Singer pestle is secured by the closely analogous figure of a monkey worked of pale green fluorite from Tomb 5 at Xiaotun 小屯. [1] The tomb also yielded an undecorated jade pestle and mortar. [2]

Published: 3000 Years of Chinese Jade (New York: Arden Gallery, 1939), no. 69; An Exhibition of Chinese Stone Sculptures (New York: C. T. Loo and Company, 1940), pl. 1: 2; Osvald Siren, Kinas Konst under tre Artusenden (Stockholm: Natur och kultur, 1942), pl. 15; Umehara Sueji 梅原末治, Shina kogyoku zuroku 支那古玉圖錄 = Selected Specimens of Chinese Archaic Jade (Kyoto: Kuwana bunseidō, 1955), pl. 62; Staten Island Museum, Animal Forms in Chinese Art (New York: Staten Island Museum, 1962), no. 3; Umehara Sueji 梅原末治, Inkyo 殷墟 (Tokyo: Asahi shimbunsha, 1965), pl. 131: 2; Max Loehr, Relics of Ancient China: From the Collection of Dr. Paul Singer (New York: Asia Society, 1965), no. 20; Hugo H. Munsterberg, Sculpture of the Orient (New York: Dover Publications, 1972), no. 57.

[1] Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu yanjiusuo 中國社會科學院考古研究所, Yinxu Fu Hao mu 殷墟婦好墓 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1980), pl. 136: 3--4; Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu yanjiusuo 中國社會科學院考古研究所, Yinxu yuqi 殷墟玉器 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1982), fig. 80 right.

[2] Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu yanjiusuo 中國社會科學院考古研究所, Yinxu Fu Hao mu 殷墟婦好墓 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1980), color pl. 21; Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu yanjiusuo 中國社會科學院考古研究所, Yinxu yuqi 殷墟玉器 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1982), fig. 39.

Published References

J. Keith Wilson, Jingmin Zhang. Jades for Life and Death. .

SI Usage Statement

Usage conditions apply

There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

The information presented on this website may be revised and updated at any time as ongoing research progresses or as otherwise warranted. Pending any such revisions and updates, information on this site may be incomplete or inaccurate or may contain typographical errors. Neither the Smithsonian nor its regents, officers, employees, or agents make any representations about the accuracy, reliability, completeness, or timeliness of the information on the site. Use this site and the information provided on it subject to your own judgment. The National Museum of Asian Art welcomes information that would augment or clarify the ownership history of objects in their collections..

Save this image | Request Permission | Terms of use

Pestle with handle in form of a monkey

Web Resources