Harvesting knife (hu 笏), fragment

Object Details

• Description

  Ceremonial implement; long, thin blade form with beveled cutting edge, four conical perforations drilled from same side and niched handle; mottled brownish green with area of tan veins and a strip of translucent lighter green along cutting edge; smooth surface. (End broken, chips.)

  Acquired with a box, now lost.

• Provenance

  To 1916

  Lai-Yuan and Company, New York, to 1916 [1]

  From 1916 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Lai-Yuan and Company in 1916 [2]

  From 1920

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

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Miscellaneous List, S.I. 874, pg. 189, 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.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Previous custodian or owner

  Lai-Yuan & Company (ca. 1915-April 1921) (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  China

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Ceremonial Object

• Restrictions and Rights

  CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  BCE 2000s, BCE 1000s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Lai-Yuan & Company

• Place

  China

• Topic

  Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, Late Neolithic period (ca. 5000 - ca. 1700 BCE), Chinese Art, Nephrite, Jade

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Ceremonial objects