Forked blade (zhang 璋), fragment

Portion of a chang; long thin chisel shaped object of the type kuei; diagonal sharp blade, and slightly flaring corners at opposite end; circular perforation; brownish black with shadows under surface spots and streaks on each surface; satin smooth.

Acquired with a box, now lost.

Historical period(s)
Late Neolithic period, ca. 3000-ca. 1700 BCE
Medium
Jade (nephrite)
Dimensions
H x W x D: 17.8 × 5.9 × 0.4 cm (7 × 2 5/16 × 3/16 in)
Geography
China
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1916.168
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Ceremonial Object, Jade
Type

Ceremonial object: forked blade (zhang)

Keywords
China, Late Neolithic period (ca. 5000 - ca. 1700 BCE), nephrite
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. 881, pg. 192, 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)

Charles Lang Freer 1854-1919
Lai-Yuan & Company (C.L. Freer source) ca. 1915-April 1921

Description

Portion of a chang; long thin chisel shaped object of the type kuei; diagonal sharp blade, and slightly flaring corners at opposite end; circular perforation; brownish black with shadows under surface spots and streaks on each surface; satin smooth.

Acquired with a box, now lost.

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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