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Bi disc and sceptre, or gui, with moons, stars, and carp decoration
- loan
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Details
- Associated place
- Date
- 1911 - 1968
- Material and technique
- jade, bevelled, and with carved decoration
- Dimensions
- 9.3 x 17 x 1.3 cm (height x width x depth)
- Material index
- Technique index
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cut,
- Object type index
-
- No. of items
- 1
- Credit line
- Lent by the Sir Alan Barlow Collection Trust.
- Accession no.
- LI1301.32
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Further reading
University of Sussex, and Arts and Humanities Research Council, The Barlow Collection, supervised by Regina Krahl, Maurice Howard, and Aiden Leeves (Sussex: University of Sussex, 2006), no. J17a
Glossary
gui
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gui
A Chinese ritual food vessel with a deep bowl on a foot ring and handles.
Location
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- currently in research collection
Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.
Publications online
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The Barlow Collection
This piece is shaped with archaistic concepts in mind, although no archaic piece of this shape is recorded. The type is discussed in Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, pp.91f., where a related piece in the British Museum, attributed to the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), is illustrated, fig.88.
The piece is cut from a pale buff-coloured stone in form of a circular disc (bi) with overall raised bosses, supported on the back with a pointed sceptre (gui), which is flat in front and bevelled from a central ridge at the back. The front is carved on top with a full moon and a triangular star formation and at the bottom with stylized splashing waves. The reverse shows a carp jumping from waves, emitting a vapour with a large star formation and a crescent moon above.
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