Jades for Life and Death

Classification: Weapon and Armament

Historical period(s): Western Han dynasty, 206-9 B.C.E

Object Date: 206-9 B.C.E

Medium: Jade (nephrite)

Dimension(s): H x W: 6.4 x 2.1 cm (2 1/2 x 13/16 in)

Origin: China

Credit Line: Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Collection: Freer Gallery of Art Collection

Accession Number: F1915.233

Provenance: To 1915
Abel William Bahr (1877-1959), New York, NY, to 1915 [1]

From 1915 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Abel William Bahr, New York, in 1915 [2]

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

Notes:

[1] See Original Miscellaneous List, S.I. 760, pg. 168, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Abel William Bahr (1877-1959) was a collector and dealer born in Shanghai, China. After he left Shanghai in 1910, he lived, at various points in time, in London, Montreal, and Ridgefield, Connecticut. He established a gallery in New York City in 1920.

[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): Abel William Bahr (C.L. Freer source) (1877-1959)
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

Curatorial Remarks

1. Bought from A.W. Bahr, New York. For price, see Original Miscellaneous List, p. 168.

2. Original attribution: Han. See further, S.I. 760, Appendix VII.

3. (A.G.W., 1945) Ch'ing dynasty reproduction of Chou type.

4. (W.B. Trousdale, 1964) Han dynasty, second century B.C. Scabbard slide, fitted into a shallow socket in the side of a sword scabbard and bound round by silk thread. The iron stains were caused by the decomposition of the iron sword blade with which such devices were associated. The object served as a suspension device, set about 2/5 of the way down the scabbard from the mouth. A leather weapon belt (not the girdle) loosely slung about the hips of the wearer passed through the rectangular aperture and permitted the sword to be moved back and forth along the belt. The decor of crudely formed polygonal knobs is formed by a reticulation of lines laid in three directions. The profile is finely cut but the decor is rather haphazard; it is not one of the finest pieces of this age and type. The narrow ends of the two apertures show the rounded marks of drillings by which the aperture was cut out.

5. (J. Smith per Keith Wilson, 8/12/2008) Weapon and Armament added as secondary classification.

Published References: Published References are currently unavailable.

CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0): This image is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. 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 | Terms of use

Sword fitting

Related Objects

Related Media

Web Resources