Ceremonial Disc (Bi) (3300–2200 BCE): Art, History and Details

Ceremonial Disc (Bi) (3300–2200 BCE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The Liangzhu culture, one of the later Neolithic cultures of East China, excelled in jade working. Exceptionally large versions like this disc are rare and usually occupied pride of place on the chest of the buried. Traditionally called bi, these plain discs, together with cong, squared cylinders, form an essential ritual pair in Liangzhu burials of high-status individuals.

Object facts

• Title: Ceremonial Disc (Bi)
• Date: 3300–2200 BCE
• Culture: East China, Neolithic period, Liangzhu culture (3300–2200 BCE)
• Type: Jade
• Technique: jade (nephrite)
• Dimensions: Diameter: 32 cm (12 5/8 in.); Overall: 1 cm (3/8 in.); Inner diameter: 5.4 cm (2 1/8 in.)
• Collection: China - Neolithic
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1917.974

Collection credit

Worcester R. Warner Collection

Further reading listed by the museum

• Wilson, J. Keith. "Lithic Art in the Bronze Age: A Jade Dagger-Axe." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 77, no. 1 (January 1990): 2–35.
• Wilson, J. Keith, and Anne E. Wardwell. “New Objects/New Insights: Cleveland’s Recent Chinese Acquisitions.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 81, no. 8 (October 1994): 270–347.
• Griswold, William, Xiaofei Tian, Richard Von Glahn, Feng Zhao, S. J. Vainker, Masaaki Itakura, Jiang Wu, et al. China’s Southern Paradise: Treasures from the Lower Yangzi Delta. Edited by Clarissa Von Spee. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2023.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.