Disk (bi 璧)

Perforated disk of the type pi [bi] 璧; bored from both sides, leaving median ridges; obverse: mottled, lustrous shades from cream to dark mahogany brown; reverse has a paint like surface of warm tan with a cloudy dark brown area; both surfaces speckled with dark strata marks. (Rim has old and recent chipped areas and one probable mend.)

Acquired with an inscribed box, now lost.

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: 23.5 x 1.2 cm (9 1/4 x 1/2 in) Diam (hole): 4.3 cm (1 11/16 in)
Geography
China, Lake Tai region, purportedly found at Anxi, Zhejiang province
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Accession Number
F1919.18
On View Location
Freer Gallery 19: Afterlife: Ancient Chinese Jades
Classification(s)
Ceremonial Object, Jade
Type

Ceremonial object: disk (bi)

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

To 1919
You Xiaoxi (late 19th-early 20th century), Shanghai, to 1919 [1]

1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from You Xiaoxi, in New York, in 1919 [2]

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

Notes:

[1] See Original Miscellaneous List, S.I. 1397, pg. 326, 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
You Xiaoxi (C.L. Freer source) late 19th-early 20th century

Description

Perforated disk of the type pi [bi] 璧; bored from both sides, leaving median ridges; obverse: mottled, lustrous shades from cream to dark mahogany brown; reverse has a paint like surface of warm tan with a cloudy dark brown area; both surfaces speckled with dark strata marks. (Rim has old and recent chipped areas and one probable mend.)

Acquired with an inscribed box, now lost.

Published References
  • J. Keith Wilson, Jingmin Zhang. Jades for Life and Death. .
  • You Xiaoxi. Description of antique Chinese paintings and brass wares as well as of porcelains of different ages, The Charles Lang Freer papers., 1919. No. 65 p. 50, 64.
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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