Disk (bi 璧)

Perforated disk of the type pi [bi] 璧; bored from both sides; rich cream color with tan mottlings and an area at the rim on both sides of bright orange-brown; irregular in circumference and thickness. (Three rough areas on rim.)

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Maker(s)
Artist: Liangzhu culture 良渚 (ca. 3300-ca. 2250 BCE)
Historical period(s)
Late Neolithic period, ca. 3300-2250 BCE
Medium
Jade (nephrite)
Dimensions
Diam x D: 16.9 x 1.6 cm (6 5/8 x 5/8 in) Diam (hole): 4.3 cm (1 11/16 in)
Geography
China, Lake Tai region
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Accession Number
F1914.66a-b
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Ceremonial Object, Jade
Type

Ceremonial object: disk (bi)

Keywords
China, Late Neolithic period (ca. 5000 - ca. 1700 BCE)
Provenance

To 1914
Huang Zhonghui (circa 1870- after 1923), to 1914 [1]

From 1914 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Huang Zhonghui, in New York, in 1914 [2]

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

Notes:

[1] See Original Miscellaneous List, pg. 151, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

[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) and Custodian(s)

Charles Lang Freer 1854-1919
Huang Zhonghui (C.L. Freer source) ca. 1870-after 1923

Description

Perforated disk of the type pi [bi] 璧; bored from both sides; rich cream color with tan mottlings and an area at the rim on both sides of bright orange-brown; irregular in circumference and thickness. (Three rough areas on rim.)

Published References
  • J. Keith Wilson, Jingmin Zhang. Jades for Life and Death. .
  • Hugo Munsterberg. A Short History of Chinese Art. New York, 1949. pl. 7.
Collection Area(s)
Chinese Art
Web Resources
Jades for Life and Death
Google Cultural Institute
CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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