Pendants, beads, and gold chain

Historical period(s)
Warring States period, Eastern Zhou dynasty, 475-221 BCE
Medium
Jade (nephrite) and gold
Dimensions
H x W (overall): 42 × 20 cm (16 9/16 × 7 7/8 in) H x W x D (a: pendant): 8.5 × 8.3 × 0.7 cm (3 5/16 × 3 1/4 × 1/4 in) H x Diam (b: cylindrical bead): 4.6 × 1.5 cm (1 13/16 × 9/16 in) Diam (b: hole): 0.3 cm (1/8 in) H x Diam (c: cylindrical bead): 2.9 × 1.2 cm (1 1/8 × 7/16 in) Diam (c: hole): 0.7 cm (1/4 in) H x Diam (d: cylindrical bead): 2.9 × 1.4 cm (1 1/8 × 9/16 in) Diam (d: hole): 0.7 cm (1/4 in) H x Diam (e: cylindrical bead): 1.5 × 1.4 cm (5/8 × 9/16 in) Diam (e: hole): 0.8 cm (5/16 in) H x Diam (f: cylindrical bead): 1.5 × 1.4 cm (9/16 × 9/16 in) Diam (f: hole): 0.8 cm (5/16 in) H x Diam (g: cylindrical bead): 5.1 × 1.3 cm (2 × 1/2 in) Diam (g: hole): 0.3 cm (1/8 in) H x W x D (h: pendant): 4.2 × 11.4 × 0.5 cm (1 11/16 × 4 1/2 × 3/16 in) H x W x D (i: pendant): 9 × 5.5 × 0.5 cm (3 9/16 × 2 3/16 × 3/16 in) H x W x D (j: pendant): 9 × 5.6 × 0.5 cm (3 9/16 × 2 3/16 × 3/16 in) H x Diam (k: chain): 62.1 × 0.4 cm (24 7/16 × 3/16 in) H x W x D (a): 4.1 × 1.5 × 0.9 cm (1 5/8 × 9/16 × 3/8 in) H x W x D (b): 8.5 × 6.3 × 0.9 cm (3 3/8 × 2 1/2 × 3/8 in) H x Diam (c): 2.9 × 1.1 cm (1 1/8 × 7/16 in) H x Diam (d): 2.9 × 1.1 cm (1 1/8 × 7/16 in) H x Diam (e): 1.5 × 1.4 cm (9/16 × 9/16 in) H x Diam (f): 1.5 × 1.4 cm (9/16 × 9/16 in) H x Diam (g): 5.1 × 1.3 cm (2 × 1/2 in) H x W x D (h): 4.3 × 11.5 × 0.5 cm (1 11/16 × 4 1/2 × 3/16 in) H x W x D (i): 8.9 × 5.4 × 0.5 cm (3 1/2 × 2 1/8 × 3/16 in) H x W x D (j): 9 × 5.8 × 0.5 cm (3 9/16 × 2 5/16 × 3/16 in)
Geography
China, Henan province, Probably Jincun
Credit Line
Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Accession Number
F1930.27a-k
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Jade, Jewelry and Ornament
Type

Jewelry

Keywords
China, dance, dragon, Eastern Zhou dynasty (770 - 221 BCE), tiger, Warring States period (475 - 221 BCE), woman
Provenance

Possibly excavated from a tomb of the late Warring States period at Jincun, Henan province, China [1]

1930
C. T. Loo & Company, New York, NY, 1930 [2]

From 1930
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from C. T. Loo & Company, New York, NY in 1930 [3]

Notes:

[1] See Thomas Lawton, Chinese Art of the Warring States Period: Change and Continuity, 480-222 B.C., exhibition cat. (Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1982), pg. 132, cat. no. 77.

[2] Object file, undated folder sheet. See also Freer Gallery of Art Purchase List file, Collections Management Office.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

C.T. Loo & Company 1914-1948

Label

When the museum acquired this assemblage in 1930, shortly after the discoveries at Jincun, these four pendants and six cylindrical beads were attached to the linked gold chain as shown. Recent scientific study confirms both the jade and the chain are genuine to the period, but they might not have been together in ancient times.

To fashion these ornate pendants, Jincun craftsmen used relatively sophisticated metal tools to cut, drill, facet, and polish thin slices of beige nephrite. Patience and skill produced the dramatic contours, textured surfaces, and intricate openwork details that are an amazing aesthetic and technical advancement over the largely unadorned disks of the Neolithic period.

Published References
  • Huang Jun. Heng-chai ts'ang-chien Ku-yu t'u/Hengzhai cang jian gu yu tu: Ancient jades collected and seen by Huang Jun. vol. 2 Beijing. pl. 12, 1.
  • Zusetsu sekai bunkashi taikei [Cultural History of the World]. 27 vols., Tokyo, 1958-1961. vol. 15: p. 131.
  • Geoffrey WIlls. Jade of the East., 1st ed. New York, 1972. figs. 32-33.
  • William Charles White. Tombs of Old Lo-yang: A Record of the Construction of a Group of Royal Tombs at Chin-ts'un, Honan, Probably Dating 550 B.C., 1st ed. Shanghai. cat. 310, pl. 125.
  • William Watson. The Art of Dynastic China. New York, 1981. ill. 600.
  • 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. Section 2: Early Chinese Art, pl. 116.
  • Sueji Umehara. Shina kogyoku zuroku [Selected Specimens of Chinese Archaic Jade]. Kyoto, 1955. pl. 87.
  • Osvald Siren. Kinas Konst Under Tre Artusenden. 2 vols., Stockholm, 1942-1943. vol. 1: p. 131, pl. 56, fig. 85.
  • Sekai bijutsu zenshu [A Complete Collection of World Art]. 40 vols., Tokyo, F1951-1953. cat. 108, vol. 2: p. 53.
  • Alfred Salmony. Carved Jade of Ancient China. Berkeley, 1938. pls.50-52, nos.1.
  • Mizuno Seiichi. In Shu seidoki to tama [Bronzes and Jades of Ancient China]. Tokyo. pl. 72.
  • Higuchi Takayasu. Kijin to ningen no Chugoku. Tokyo. contents, p. 111.
  • S. Howard Hansford. Chinese Carved Jades. The Arts of the East London. pl. 34.
  • Chugoku bijutsu [Chinese Art in Western Collections]. 5 vols., Tokyo, 1972-1973. vol. 4: fig. 94.
  • Dr. John Alexander Pope, Thomas Lawton, Harold P. Stern. The Freer Gallery of Art. 2 vols., Washington and Tokyo, 1971-1972. cat. 19, vol. 1: vol. 1, p. 155.
  • Moruo Guo. Liang chou chin wen tz'u: Inscriptions on bronzes. vol. 5 Tokyo. p. 1.
  • Masterpieces of Chinese and Japanese Art: Freer Gallery of Art handbook. Washington, 1976. p. 31.
  • Janet Douglas, W. Thomas Chase. Examination of Two Eastern Zhou Jade and Gold Assemblages from Jincun, near Luoyang, Henan Province, China: Implications for the Original Configuration of the Freer Pectoral
    . vol. 46, no. 1 London. pp. 35-48, figs. 1-4.
  • Yashiro Yukio. Things of Beauty; Art Treasures Excavated from the Ancient Tombs at Chin-ts'un, Honan, China: With Special Reference to the Bronze Statuette of a Bird-Fancier. no. 37 Osaka, May 1962. p. 42.
  • Sueji Umehara. Rakuyo kinson kobo shuei [Objects from the Ancient Tombs at Chin Ts'un, Lo-yang]. Kyoto. p. 47, pl. 81, fig. 20.
  • Na Chih-liang. "玉器通史." Yu ch'i t'ung shih [A General Study of Chinese Jade]. Hong Kong, 1965. p. 53, fig. 67.
  • Hai wai i chen [Chinese Art in Overseas Collections]. Taipei, 1985. p. 55.
  • Doris J. Dohrenwend. Jade Demonic Images from Early China. vol. 10 Washington and Ann Arbor, 1975. pp. 55-78, pl. 20, fig. 75.
  • William Willetts. Foundations of Chinese Art from Neolithic Pottery to Modern Architecture. New York, 1965. p. 71.
  • The Horizon Book of the Arts of China. New York. p. 74.
  • Chang Wen-chi. "中国玉器歷代史." Chung-kuo yu ch'i li tai shih. Hong Kong, 1978. p. 87.
  • William Watson. Early Civilization in China. Library of the early civilizations London, 1966. p. 123.
  • Minao Hayashi. Sengoku jidai shutsudo bunbutsu no kenkyu. Kyoto. p. 125.
  • Thomas Lawton. Chinese Art of the Warring States Period: Change and Continuity, 480-222 B.C. Washington, 1982-1983. cat. 77, p. 132.
  • Richard Gump. Jade: Stone of Heaven., 1st ed. Garden City, 1962. p. 147.
  • Robert Tigor. Worlds Together Worlds Apart: A History of the World from the Beginnings of Humankind to the Present., 5th ed. New York, New York. p. 169.
  • Lao Kan. Jade Pendant and “Kang-Mao”. Institute of history and philology, vol. 27. p. 186.
  • Alfred Salmony. Ein jadeschmuck der chinesischen frühzeit. vol. 10, no. 9 Munich, September 1932. pp. 292-294, ill. 1-3.
  • Archibald Gibson Wenley. Early Chinese Jade. vol. 63, no. 5 Washington, November 1946. p. 347.
  • William Charles White. Discoveries Which Surpass Anything Yet Known of Archaic Chinese Jade: Lo-yang Types of Many Colors. vol. 184, no.4951 London, March 10, 1934. p. 371.
  • Mizuno Seiichi, Yukio Kobayashi. Zukai kokogaku jiten [Dictionary of Archaeology]. Tokyo. p. 788.
Collection Area(s)
Chinese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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 Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery welcome information that would augment or clarify the ownership history of objects in their collections.

citation | Save this image How to download an image | Request Permission | Terms of Use

Related Objects