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A carved object of a bird in profile faces left clenching a coiled snake in its open hooked beak.　

The bird’s eye is a carved circle; stylized curly lines give its body texture and definition in the wings and tail feathers. The wing tip that faces the viewer is flat against the bottom. The middle feathers split before the large tail feather swoops toward the right - one curls up and the other curls downward. The snake has an arrow-shaped head with circular eyes and carved scales. Another arrow-headed snake curves under the bird’s tail feather, facing left, centered in the birds open claw. The color is translucent creamy light browns.

Gallery Text

During the Warring States and Han periods, jades functioned not only as ritual and burial items, but also as objects of personal adornment for the living. Other luxury materials, such as gold, bronze, and glass began to be incorporated with jades with greater frequency.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.50.242
Title
Jade Bird Subduing Two Snakes
Classification
Ritual Implements
Work Type
ornament
Date
4th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period
Zhou dynasty, Warring States period, 475-221 BCE
Culture
Chinese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/204967

Location

Location
Level 1, Room 1740, Early Chinese Art, Arts of Ancient China from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Light brownish, strongly translucent nephrite
Dimensions
H. 2.6 x W. 5 x Thickness 0.4 cm (1 x 1 15/16 x 3/16 in.)
Weight 8 g

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[C. T. Loo & Co., New York, December 22, 1933] sold; to Grenville L. Winthrop, New York (1933-1943), bequest; to Fogg Art Museum, 1943.

Published Text

Catalogue
Ancient Chinese Jades from the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection in the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University
Authors
Max Loehr and Louisa G. Fitzgerald Huber
Publisher
Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1975)

Catalogue entry no. 414 by Max Loehr:

414 Bird Subduing Tow Snakes
Light brownish, strongly translucent, openwork jade plaque representing a bird worked out in a flamboyantly curvilinear design. The bird bites the snake which coils in front of him and subdues another with his claws. Various patterns enrich and differentiate the surfaces of the bird’s plumage, crest, and tail, and contrast with the scaly texture of the snake’s skin. Late Eastern Chou.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.50.242
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

THIS WORK MAY NOT BE LENT BY THE TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION TO THE HARVARD ART MUSEUMS.

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Publication History

  • Max Loehr and Louisa G. Fitzgerald Huber, Ancient Chinese Jades from the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection in the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University (Cambridge, MA, Fogg Art Museum, 1975)., cat. no. 414, p. 283
  • Jenny So, Early Chinese Jades in the Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2019), pp. 236-9, cat. 31A

Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 1740 Early China I, Harvard Art Museums, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu