Accession Number
1971/2.102

Title
Jade cong cylinder with low relief design

Artist(s)
Chinese

Artist Nationality
Chinese (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
1300 BCE - 1100 BCE

Medium & Support
dark green nephrite with white streaks

Dimensions
2 15/16 in x 2 15/16 in x 1 in (7.5 cm x 7.5 cm x 2.6 cm);3 ⅛ in x 5 3/16 in x 5 3/16 in (8 cm x 13.2 cm x 13.2 cm);2 15/16 in x 2 15/16 in x 1 in (7.5 cm x 7.5 cm x 2.6 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of the Estate of Agnes E. Meyer

Label copy
The froms of the bi (circle) and cong (square) date back to the stone age in China but their original meaning, function, and names are unknown. In the succeeding Bronze Age cultures of the Shang (ca. 1600-1050 BCE) and early Zhou dynasty, cong and bi are rarely found. Unearthed in greater numbers in later Zhou sites, they gained importance in the following Han dynasty, where they were at the core of the earliest Chinese books on philosophy, cosmology, and metaphysics. The Zhou Li (Book of Rites), an ancient Chinese book, compiled by the Zhou dynasty and amended during the Han dynasty (206 BCE- 220 CE), describes the cong as a symbol of earth (square) and the bi as the symbol of heaven (circle).
(Label for UMMA Chinese Gallery Opening Rotation, March 2009)

Subject matter
ritual object, once probably zoomorphic line carvings on the surface of mystical animals, usually such objects were discovered in elite tombs of the late prehistoric to early Bronze Age China (3rd to 2nd millennium BCE)

Physical Description
jade cylinder with square shaped exterior and round interior, shallow relief carver on each side, possible representing zoomorphic designs that have been worn off. Dark jade material with many striations and mottles. Come in custom-designed silk box enclosed in a fine hardwood box. The inscription on wooden box indicates that the object was once part of the Duan Fang collection in late 19th century. Duan Fang was a Manchu stateman and reknowned antiquarian. His inscription date the object to the Zhou period. Recent archaeological work suggests that the object was probably made in the late 3rd millennium B.C.E. and remained in circulation by Shang period of the late 2nd millennium B.C.E.

Primary Object Classification
Ritual Object

Additional Object Classification(s)
Ritual Object

Collection Area
Asian

Rights
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Keywords
rituals (events)