Round axe, made from a collared disk

Object Details

• Description

  Flanged pierced pi [bi] 璧 disk with lateral serrations arranged on either side of the central orifice. Buff colored with some darker mottling. The lower edge is ground to a blunt cutting edge.

• Previous custodian or owner

  Duanfang 端方 (1861-1911)

  Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer ((1875-1959) and (1887-1970))

• Provenance

  Duanfang (1861-1911) [1]

  From at least 1969 to 1970

  Eugene Meyer (1875-1959) and Agnes E. Meyer (1887-1970), Washington, DC, and Mt. Kisco, NY [2]

  From 1970

  Freer Gallery of Art, bequeathed by Agnes E. Meyer, 1970 [3]

  Notes:

  [1] The jade is included in Duanfang’s catalogue of his jade collection, published posthumously in 1936 with a preface by Wang Dalong, see Duanfang, Taozhai gu yu tu, vol. 1 (Shanghai, 1936), p. 1:3a.

  Duanfang was a late Qing government official and a well known collector of Chinese art. See also Thomas Lawton, A Time of Transition: Two Collectors of Chinese Art (Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, 1991), pp. 37-39, fig. 37.

  An inscription on the box with which the jade was acquired reads: “Zhou, gu bi, Tao zhai zhen cang"; a reference to the Taozhai, Duanfang’s studio provides another indication that the jade was in Duanfang’s collection.

  [2] The object is included in Agnes E. Meyer’s will and testament dated December 23, 1969, copy in object file.

  [3] See Agnes E. Meyer’s will and testament cited in note 2.

• Origin

  Anyang, probably Henan province, China

• Credit Line

  Gift of Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer

• Type

  Ceremonial Object

• On View

  Sackler Gallery 23b: Anyang: China's Ancient City of Kings

• Restrictions and Rights

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  BCE 1000s

• Name

  Meyer, Eugene and Agnes E., Duanfang

• Place

  China, Henan province, Anyang

• Topic

  Art, Chinese Art, Anyang period, Late Shang dynasty (ca. 1300 - 1050 BCE)

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Ceremonial objects

• On View

  Yes