Harvesting knife (hu 笏), fragment

Object Details

• Description

  Fashioned of tannish green stone with irregularly shaped, multicolored flecks throughout, the blade is highly polished on both surfaces. The blade, which has been reworked at one upper corner, has an otherwise straight back. Both of the oblique, shorter edges are straight. The curved cutting edge is beveled on both sides and is marked by irregular indentations that appear to have resulted from hard wear. Four large conical perforations appear along the upper edge of the blade. A fifth hole, also conical and drilled from the same side as the other four, is still visible in the reworked portion of the upper corner. A sixth, smaller conical perforation, drilled from the opposite side, occurs on the horizontal axis in the smaller portion of the blade.

  Acquired with an inscribed box.

• Provenance

  Duanfang (1861-1911), Peking [1]

  From the early 1900s

  Mrs. Agnes E. Meyer, presumably acquired from an unidentified dealer, New York in the early 1900s [2]

  To 1983

  Elizabeth Meyer Lorentz, Armonk, New York, given by her mother, Mrs. Agnes E. Meyer, to 1983 [3]

  From 1983

  Freer Gallery of Art, given by Elizabeth Meyer Lorentz in 1983 [4]

  Notes:

  [1] According to Curatorial Remark 2, T. Lawton, 1983, in the object record.

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] See note 1.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Previous custodian or owner

  Duanfang 端方 (1861-1911)

  Agnes E. Meyer (1887-1970)

  Elizabeth Meyer Lorentz (1913-2001)

• Origin

  China

• Culture

  Longshan culture, ca. 3000-ca. 1700 BCE

• Credit Line

  Gift of Elizabeth Lorentz

• Type

  Ceremonial Object

• Restrictions and Rights

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  BCE 2000s, BCE 1000s

• Name

  Lorentz, Elizabeth Meyer, Meyer, Agnes E., Duanfang

• Place

  China

• Topic

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

• Culture

  Longshan culture, Chinese

• Object Type

  Ceremonial objects