Horn Scepter
date: label: Date
content: 1726
label: Period
content: Qing dynasty
name: label: Artist
content: Jin Nong (1687-1763)
notes: label: Label
content: This small scepter is carved to resemble a woody fungus known in Chinese as lingzhi ("sacred fungus"). The plant is also called the "fungus of immortality" because it was believed to be a powerful ingredient in elixirs intended to prolong human life. An inscription on the base contains a cyclical date and a sobriquet, or art name, used by the painter and antiquarian, Jin Nong (1687-1763). Thus it is likely that this horn object was made for (or possibly made by) Jin Nong.
label: Provenance
content: To 1918
label: Provenance
content: You Xiaoxi (late 19th-early 20th century), Shanghai, to 1918 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1918 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), given by You Xiaoxi in 1918 [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 1920
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] See Original Miscellaneous List, S.I. 1374, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See note 1.
label: Provenance
content: [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.
label: Collection
content: Freer Gallery of Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: Worshipping the Ancestors: Chinese Commemorative Portraits (June 17 to September 9, 2001)
label: Exhibition History
content: Beyond Paper: Chinese Calligraphy on Objects (August 18, 1994 to July 3, 1997)
label: Exhibition History
content: Chinese Art (May 9 to November 29, 1993)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: You Xiaoxi 游篠溪 (late 19th-early 20th century) (C.L. Freer source)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
place: label: Origin
content: China
topic: label: Topic
content: horn
label: Topic
content: Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911)
label: Topic
content: fungus
label: Topic
content: China
label: Topic
content: Chinese Art
label: Topic
content: Charles Lang Freer collection
setName: label: Related Online Resources
content: Google Arts & Culture
label: See more items in
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Charles Lang Freer
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: F1918.49a-e
objectType: label: Type
content: Sculpture
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Horn
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D: 24.9 x 4.3 x 4.3 cm (9 13/16 x 1 11/16 x 1 11/16 in)