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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.50.352
Title
Jade Ornament in the Shape of an Arc
Classification
Ritual Implements
Work Type
ornament
Date
6th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period
Zhou dynasty, Spring and Autumn period, 770-476 BCE
Culture
Chinese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/199629

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Heavily altered nephrite
Dimensions
W. 6.8 x Thickness 0.3 cm (2 11/16 x 1/8 in.)
unspecified: 16 g

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. 600 by Max Loehr:

600 Ornament in the Shape of an Arc
Opaque grayish brown, rather soft stone in the shape of an approximately semi-circular segment with an extension doubled back upon the outer arc. One face is plain; the other is decorated with a shallowly incised pattern of angular meander motifs and parallel grooves. The left end, with its peculiar notched outline, set off by a transverse, rope-like band, suggest an extremely conventionalized animal head. The opposite end, accordingly, may represent a tail. The mouth is indicated by a thin, wiggly, sawed-out line, a technique not paralleled in this collection. The edges of the rest of the extension beyond the “head” are very coarsely and unevenly treated. While reminiscent of Eastern Chou types, this object, which for once lacks all sensuous appeal, appears to be of later date.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.50.352
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

  • Dame Una Pope-Hennessy, Early Chinese Jades, E. Benn (London, England, 1923), pl. 21: I
  • Osvald Sirén, A History of Early Chinese Art, brochure (London, England, 1928), vol. II, pl. 95A
  • Alfred Salmony, Carved Jade of Ancient China, Gillick Press (Berkeley, CA, 1938), pl. 34: I
  • 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. 600, p. 415
  • Jenny So, Early Chinese Jades in the Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2019), p. 220, fig. 1

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project

Verification Level

This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or 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