- Collection type
- Object
- Description
- Stone object. Rough oval shaped stone with perforation in centre [SM 03/07/2008]
- Cultural groups
- Japanese
- Person
- Maker Unknown Maker
- Field collector Unknown Collector
- PRM source Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers founding collection
- Date
- Date collected
- ?By 1884
- Acquisition information
- Donated: 1884
- Materials and processes
- Material Stone, Process Perforated, Process Carved
- Dimensions
- Diameter: max 75 mm, Weight 181.4 g
- Object numbers
- Accession number: 1884.140.66 Other numbers: JAC 461 PR Cat other PR nos: 2062
- Research and responses
This and .66 - 70 were found fixed to a board probably in 60 Banbury Road. They are not stone tools but are worked [and in some cases decorated] stones of apparent aesthetic value. The actual meaning or function of these stones is currently unknown. The stones are fixed to the board with pins around their edges. The board is a thick display board. Stuck to the front is a small label stating 'Stone objects, Japan' There was also a loose label reading 'Stone objects of unknown use, Japan'. Handwritten on the front are several descriptions specific to the individual stones and '1159' and 'Dan 1' [sic - illegible].
Please note: when this board was removed from U.88.A it had the following stone tools attached to it: 1884.140.65-66, 1884.140.68-70 and 1906.20.277. [SM 03/07/2008]
Listed and described as JAC461 on page 131 of the unpublished draft typescript 'The Japanese Archaeology Collections at the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford', by Fumiko Ohinata and Jeremy Coote (dated 2002): ‘Curious stones (kiseki) ... Antiquarians of the Edo period are known to have collected and cherished stone objects such as arrowheads, stone axes, and stone spoons as well as undertaking field surveys ... One of these Edo scholars was Kiuchi Sekitei (1724-1808). Apart from prehistoric artefacts of which the functions are obvious, Kiuchi Sekitei and others of that period collected stones with curious shapes. These curious stones are sometimes called “god made stones (jindai-seki)“ and were highly valued. To antiquarians of the Edo period, stones with such curious shapes were neither natural nor anthropogenic, therefore they must have been made by god ... The tradition of collecting stones with unusual shapes or aesthetically pleasing objects seems to have continued at least until relatively recently ... In the Pitt Rivers Museum there are six such worked “curious” stone objects of various shapes. There is no evidence to prove that curious stones in the Pitt Rivers Museum were collected by Kiuchi Sekitei or his contemporaries, however, these are best understood in the context of a long standing tradition started by Kiuchi Sekitei and his colleagues in the eighteenth century Edo period ... JAC 461 / Dark grey 181.4 g / An irregular ring with a hole in the middle, resembling a “napkin ring”.’ (Copy of typescript in RDF: Researchers: Ohinata and Coote). [MN 23/03/2010]
Search terms: Carving