Garment hook (daigou)

Historical period(s)
Han dynasty, 206 BCE-220 CE
Medium
Bronze with gilding and turquoise inlay
Dimensions
H x W: 16.5 x 9.6 cm (6 1/2 x 3 3/4 in)
Geography
China
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Accession Number
F1913.97
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Jewelry and Ornament, Metalwork
Type

Garment hook

Keywords
China, figure, Han dynasty (206 BCE - 220 CE)
Provenance

Marcel Bing (1875-1920), Paris, purchased in interior China [1]

To 1913
Yamanaka & Company, New York purchased from Marcel Bing, to 1913 [2]

From 1913 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Yamanaka & Company, New York in 1913 [3]

From 1920
The Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [4]

Notes:

[1] According to Curatorial Remark 3., C.L.Freer, undated, in the object record: " Very important. Marcel Bing bought this specimen on one of his trips to interior China and afterwards sold it to Mr. Miya of Yamanaka and Company, who afterwards sold it to me."

[2] Undated folder sheet note. See Original Bronze List, S.I. 437-450, page 103, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. See also, note 1.

[3] See note 2.

[4] 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) and Custodian(s)

Charles Lang Freer 1854-1919
Marcel Bing 1875-1920
Yamanaka and Co. (C.L. Freer source) 1917-1965

Published References
  • Solange Lemaitre. Les agrafes chinoises jusqu'a la fin de l'epoque Han. Paris. pl. 8, fig. 23.
  • Benjamin Rowland, Laurence Sickman, H. G. Henderson, Robert Treat Paine, Richard Ettinghausen, Eric Schroeder. The University Prints. Oriental Art Series O 4 vols. Newton, Massachusetts, 1938-1941. pl. 124.
  • Sueji Umehara. Shina kodo seikwa [Selected Relics of Ancient Chinese Bronzes from Collections in Europe and Asia]. 3 vols., Osaka. vol. 1: pl. 74a.
  • Osvald Siren. Kinas Konst Under Tre Artusenden. 2 vols., Stockholm, 1942-1943. vol. 1: pl. 75.
  • Osvald Siren. A History of Early Chinese Art. 4 vols., London, 1929-1930. vol. 2. pl. 13G.
  • Sueji Umehara. Chugoku kodai no hoshoku taiko [Ancient Chinese Jeweled Garment Hooks]. no. 11 Osaka, September 1953. p. 6.
  • Cheng Te-k'un. Ch'ih-yu, The God of War in Han Art. vol. 4, no. 2, Summer 1958. p. 53, fig. 8.
  • William Willetts. Foundations of Chinese Art from Neolithic Pottery to Modern Architecture. New York, 1965. p. 169.
Collection Area(s)
Chinese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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