Examination of Two Eastern Zhou Jade and Gold Assemblages from Jincun, Near Luoyang, Henan Province, China, and Implications for the Original Configuration of the Freer Pectoral

Abstract

In the light of recent archaeological finds in China, a jade and gold pectoral in the collection of the Freer Gallery of Art, dating to the Eastern Zhou dynasty, was examined to determine if its present configuration is correct. The pectoral consists of 10 jades attached to a linked gold chain, and is thought to come from the Eastern Zhou site of Jincun, near Luoyang, Henan Province, China. All 10 jades were found to have similar soil encrustations and similar major and minor elemental composition, as determined by X-ray fluorescence analysis. However, a scanning electron microscope (SEM) study of the gold wires attaching the jades to the gold chain showed that four different types of wire were used. The Freer pectoral was found to be a reconfiguration of genuine jades on the gold chain, probably effected shortly after excavation in the late 1920s. The Freer pectoral was compared to another jade-and-gold necklace, also thought to be from the Eastern Zhou site of Jincun. The necklaces have different styles of chain, but both could have been made in China or the Western Steppes region in antiquity.