.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
A Confucian text likely dating to the Western Han period, the Zhou Li, or Rites of Zhou, states that the six ritual jades, or Liu Yu Liu Rue, comprise the bi, cong, gui, zhang, hu, and huang, among which, the bi disk and the cong tube were by far the most important and the longest lived. The bi, a circular disk with a circular perforation in the center, was said to symbolize the sun and to have been used in ceremonies paying homage to the sun. As a parallel, the cong - an implement square in section, open at both ends, and with a cylindrical passageway connecting the two ends - was believed to represent the earth and to have been used in ceremonies honoring the earth. Alas, the exact meaning and function of the bi and cong remain unknown, as those ritual implements originated in Neolithic times, more than 2,000 years before the Zhou Li was written; thus, in all probability, that text merely states the conventional wisdom held at the time of its writing, which may or may not have anything to do with the implements’ original use and significance or their evolution over the millennia.
The earliest bi disks, which date to the Neolithic period, which are undecorated, and which were crafted in a variety of colored hardstones, tend to be large, relatively thick, and sometimes slightly irregular in shape. Occasionally slightly off-center, the central perforation typically was worked from both sides, with the result that a low ridge often encircles the middle of the perforation, indicating the point where the tools met. By the Shang dynasty, bi disks, though still undecorated but with the perforation perfectly centered, were very regular in form, usually were crafted in sea-green or bluish-green nephrite, and generally were thinner than earlier examples. In the late Eastern Zhou, most bi disks were finished with a subtly raised border around the periphery and another around the central perforation; in addition, the surface of the usually pale greenish white stone, sometimes enlivened with a splash of brown, typically was ornamented with an array of small, spiral, or comma-shaped, embellishments that are regularly spaced and rise in low relief and that are known as guwen or guliwen, meaning “grain patterns.” (For a short essay on the emergence, development, and decline of the late Eastern Zhou relief embellishment, see M. Loehr, Ancient Chinese Jades from the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection in the Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 1975, pp. 21-28.) An intaglio line circumscribes the outside edge of each relief embellishment (See, Harvard Art Museums, Grenville L. Winthrop Collection, 1943.50.649, published in ibid., pp. 266-267, no. 393). As demonstrated by this exquisite example, the late Eastern Zhou preference for thin bi disks in white or pale greenish white jade marked with brown persisted into the Western Han, as did the taste for subtly raised borders and ornamented surfaces. In Western Han disks, however, the relief embellishments are polygonal, rather than round or comma-shaped, and they line up in very neat, regular rows and columns, in appearance often seemingly diagonally set, that well-defined order clearly reflecting the method by which the stone was worked. (Of course, the nearly arranged and regularly spaced spiral embellishments on late Eastern Zhou jades also appear in regular rows, but usually not in both rows and columns or set on diagonals.)
This bi disk compares favorably with two jade disks in the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection at the Harvard Art Museums: 1943.50.550 and 1943.50.545, which are published in ibid., p. 528, no. 365, and p. 527, no. 364, respectively. This disk also relates close to one in the collection of the Nanjing Museum, which is illustrated in Gu Fang, The Complete Collection of Unearthed Jades in China, vol. 7, Beijing, p. 104. In addition, this disk is very similar to a jade disk from the Mr. and Mrs. Malcolm E. McPherson Collection which sold at Christie’s New York, on 19 March 2008, lot 481.
The earliest bi disks, which date to the Neolithic period, which are undecorated, and which were crafted in a variety of colored hardstones, tend to be large, relatively thick, and sometimes slightly irregular in shape. Occasionally slightly off-center, the central perforation typically was worked from both sides, with the result that a low ridge often encircles the middle of the perforation, indicating the point where the tools met. By the Shang dynasty, bi disks, though still undecorated but with the perforation perfectly centered, were very regular in form, usually were crafted in sea-green or bluish-green nephrite, and generally were thinner than earlier examples. In the late Eastern Zhou, most bi disks were finished with a subtly raised border around the periphery and another around the central perforation; in addition, the surface of the usually pale greenish white stone, sometimes enlivened with a splash of brown, typically was ornamented with an array of small, spiral, or comma-shaped, embellishments that are regularly spaced and rise in low relief and that are known as guwen or guliwen, meaning “grain patterns.” (For a short essay on the emergence, development, and decline of the late Eastern Zhou relief embellishment, see M. Loehr, Ancient Chinese Jades from the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection in the Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 1975, pp. 21-28.) An intaglio line circumscribes the outside edge of each relief embellishment (See, Harvard Art Museums, Grenville L. Winthrop Collection, 1943.50.649, published in ibid., pp. 266-267, no. 393). As demonstrated by this exquisite example, the late Eastern Zhou preference for thin bi disks in white or pale greenish white jade marked with brown persisted into the Western Han, as did the taste for subtly raised borders and ornamented surfaces. In Western Han disks, however, the relief embellishments are polygonal, rather than round or comma-shaped, and they line up in very neat, regular rows and columns, in appearance often seemingly diagonally set, that well-defined order clearly reflecting the method by which the stone was worked. (Of course, the nearly arranged and regularly spaced spiral embellishments on late Eastern Zhou jades also appear in regular rows, but usually not in both rows and columns or set on diagonals.)
This bi disk compares favorably with two jade disks in the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection at the Harvard Art Museums: 1943.50.550 and 1943.50.545, which are published in ibid., p. 528, no. 365, and p. 527, no. 364, respectively. This disk also relates close to one in the collection of the Nanjing Museum, which is illustrated in Gu Fang, The Complete Collection of Unearthed Jades in China, vol. 7, Beijing, p. 104. In addition, this disk is very similar to a jade disk from the Mr. and Mrs. Malcolm E. McPherson Collection which sold at Christie’s New York, on 19 March 2008, lot 481.