Ancestor tablet

Ornament of roughly rectangular shape; translucent mottled tan and cream color with areas of white film of incipient disintegration; blunt blade edge is indicated by lightly incised line and beveling; upper edge has irregular notches and a narrow projection; satin smooth surface. (One small chip).

Acquired with a box, now lost.

Historical period(s)
Western Zhou dynasty, ca. 1050-ca. 950 BCE
Medium
Jade (nephrite)
Dimensions
H x W x D: 8.3 × 2 × 0.3 cm (3 1/4 × 13/16 × 1/8 in)
Geography
China
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1916.148
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Ceremonial Object, Jade
Type

Ceremonial object: tablet

Keywords
China, nephrite, Western Zhou dynasty (ca. 1050 - 771 BCE)
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. 885, pg. 194, 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
Lai-Yuan & Company (C.L. Freer source) ca. 1915-April 1921

Description

Ornament of roughly rectangular shape; translucent mottled tan and cream color with areas of white film of incipient disintegration; blunt blade edge is indicated by lightly incised line and beveling; upper edge has irregular notches and a narrow projection; satin smooth surface. (One small chip).

Acquired with a box, now lost.

Published References
  • J. Keith Wilson, Jingmin Zhang. Jades for Life and Death. .
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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