Ritual Disc with Dragon Motifs (Bi)

CultureChinese

DateEastern Zhou dynasty (771-256 B.C.E.)

MediumJade (nephrite)

DimensionsOverall: 6 1/2 inches (16.51 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust

Object number33-81

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

East Asian Art

Terms

DescriptionDisc with two feline animals of varying size and shape striding along the outer rim. The surface of the disc is ornamented with relief spirals, termed "grain bumps," enclosing a third beast, much attenuated, striding around the smaller, inner disc. The tip of the tail of the animal at top right is missing.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Masterpieces of Asian Art, Asia Society, New York, 1960.

Gallery Label

This disc, one of the most famous Chinese jade carvings in existence, is said to have come from royal tombs in the vicinity of the Zhou capital at Luoyang. The piece is astonishingly thinly sliced, yet the dragons possesses a three-dimensionality and vitality that belie the intractable material from which they were carved. Perforated discs known as bi were said to have been used in the worship of heaven, but it is likely that this piece was valued as much for its beauty as for any ritual role it possessed.

Provenance

With Dr. Otto Burchard, Peking, by December 23, 1932;

Purchased from Burchard, through Laurence Sickman, by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1933.

Published References

The Connoisseur, vol. 92 (December 1933), 419-420 (repro.).

The American Magazine of Art, 26:524, (New York: American Federation of Arts, December 1933) (repro.).

William Charles White, Tombs of Old Lo-Yang: A Record of The Construction and Contents of A Group of Royal Tombs at Chin-ts'un, Honan, Probably Dating 550 B.C. (Shanghai : Kelly & Walsh, 1934), 134 , pls. 131-132 (repro.).

Catalogue of the International Exhibition of Chinese Art (London: Royal Academy of Arts, 1935), no. 341, pl. 44 (repro.).

L. Warner, “Chinese Sculpture at London,” American Magazine of Art, vol. 29, no. 7 (New York: American Federation of Arts, March 1936) (repro.).

The Burlington Magazine (London: Burlington Magazine, January 1936), pl. 3 (repro.).

Laurence Sickman, ed., Early Chinese Art (Newton: University Prints, 1938), 117 (repro.).

Alfred Salmony, Carved Jade of Ancient China (Berkeley, California: Gillick, 1938), 56, pl. 38 (repro.).

The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, The William Rockhill Nelson Collection, 2nd ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1941), 105 (repro.).

Regina Shoolman, Charles E. Slatkin, Enjoyment of Art In America a Survey of The Permanent Collections of Painting, Sculpture, Ceramics & Decorative Arts in American and Canadian Museums: Being an Introduction to the Masterpieces of Art From Prehistoric to Modern Times (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1942), pl. 140 (repro.).

Osvald Siren, Kinas Konst Under tre artusenden, vol. 1 (Stockholm: Natur och kultur, 1942), pl. 53(repro.).

The Studio (London: The Studio, 1942-43), 61 (repro.).

The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, The William Rockhill Nelson Collection, 3rd ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1949), 132 (repro.).

Hugo Munsterberg, A Short History of Chinese Art (New York: Philosophical library, 1949), pl. 11 (repro.).

S. Howard Hansford, Chinese Jade Carving (London: Lund Humphries, 1950), pl.XXII (repro.).

Judith Hart Burling, Chinese Art (New York: Studio, 1953), pl. 263 (repro.).

von Martin Feddersen, Chinesisches Kunstgewerbe: ein Handbuch für Sammler und Liebhaber (Braunschweig : Klinkhardt & Biermann, 1955), 172 (repro.).

Sueji Umehara, Shina Kogyoku Zuroku (Kyoto: Kuwana Bunseido, Showa 30, 1955), pl. VIII (repro.).

Everard M. Upjohn, Paul S. Wingert, Jane Gaston Mahler, History of World Art (New York: Oxford University Press, 1958), fig. 540 (repro.).

von Eleanor v. Erdberg Consten, Das Alte China (Stuttgart: G. Kilpper, 1958), pl. 53 (repro.).

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Ross E. Taggart, ed., Handbook of the Collections in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 4th ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1959), 167 (repro.).

René Grousset, Chinese Art & Culture, trans. Haakon Chevalier (New York: Orion Press, 1959), pl. 12 (repro.).

H. W. Janson, Dora Jane Janson, ed., Key Monuments of the History of Art: A visual survey (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1959), pl. 316 (repro.).

Michael Sullivan, An Introduction to Chinese Art (Berkeley: University of California, 1961), pl. 33 (repro.).

Eleanor C. Munro, The Golden Encyclopedia of Art Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, and Ornament, from Prehistoric Times to the Twentieth Century (New York, Golden, 1961), 87, fig. 5 (repro.).

Capolavori nei Secoli: enciclopedia di tutti le arti, di tutti i popoli, in tutti i tempi , no. 25 (Milano: Fratelli Fabbri, May 12, 1962), 22 (repro.).

Richard Gump, Jade, Stone of Heaven (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1962), 56 (repro.).

William Watson, Early Civilization in China (London: Thames & Hudson, 1966), 124 (repro.).

S. Howard Hansford, Chinese Carved Jades (London: Faber, 1968), pl. 35 (repro.).

Michael Sullivan, Arts of China (Berkeley, California: University of California, 1967), 64, fig. 46 (repro.).

Minao Hayashi, “Ceremonial Jade in Ancient China,” Journal of Oriental Studies, no. 40 (Kyoto-shi: Toho Bunka Gakuin Kyoto Kenkyujo, March 1969), 322, fig. 1 (repro.).

Horizon Book of the Arts of China (New York: American Heritage, 1969), 67 (repro.).

Ross E. Taggart, George L. McKenna, and Marc F. Wilson, eds., Handbook of the Collections in The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City, Missouri, vol. II, Art of the Orient. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1973), 22 (repro.).

Apollo, special issue for the Asian art collection in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Vol. XCVII, no. 133 (March 1973), 55, pl. III (repro.).

Judith Moorhouse, Collecting Oriental Antiques (London; New York: Hamlyn, 1976), 81, no. 80 (repro.).

William Watson, L'art de l'ancienne Chine (Paris: Éditions d'art Lucien Mazenod, 1979), 359, pl. 158 (repro.).

Danielle Elisseeff, Vadime Elisseeff, La Civilisation de la Chine Classique, vol. 16 (Paris: Arthaud, 1979), pl. 36 (repro.).

David A. Bershtein, The Christian Science Monitor (January 25, 1980), 20 (repro.).

National Geographic, vol. 172, no. 3 (Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, September 1987), 284 (repro.).

Ellen R. Goheen, The Collections of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1988), 150, no. 80 (repro.).

Roger Ward and Patricia J. Fidler, eds., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection (New York: Hudson Hills Press, in association with Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993), 335 (repro.).

Orientations, Special issue for the Chinese art collection in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Vol. 39, no. 8 (November/December 2008), 60, fig. 8 (repro.).

Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), 297, no. 7 (repro.).

Colin Mackenzie, with contributions by Ling-En Lu, Masterworks of Chinese art: the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Kansas City, Mo.: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2011), 26-27, cat. 3 (repro.).

Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.