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A light green jade sculpture of a curved fish that lies in a semi-circular shape. The fish’s head faces the left. There are carved lines along the top and bottom to show fins and a circle on the head to show an eye. There is a hole through the mouth.

A light green jade sculpture of a curved fish that lies in a semi-circular shape with its head and tail pointing downward. The fish’s head faces the left and the tail the right. There are carved lines along the top and bottom to show fins and a circle on the head to show an eye. There is a hole through the mouth. The background is a medium grey color.

Gallery Text

The Shang refined Neolithic jade-making practices, fashioning ritual blades and implements of even greater sophistication than those of their predecessors, incorporating jade blades into turquoise-inlaid bronze hafts, and expanding their jade repertoire into representational shapes of humans and animals.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.50.415
Title
Jade Semicircular Fish Figure
Classification
Ritual Implements
Work Type
pendant
Date
12th-11th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period
Shang dynasty, c. 1600-c. 1050 BCE
Culture
Chinese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/202765

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
Translucent, deep celadon-green nephrite
Dimensions
L. 9.5 x W. 1.6 x Thickness 0.3 cm (3 3/4 x 5/8 x 1/8 in.)
Weight 15 g

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Grenville L. Winthrop, New York (by 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. 139 by Max Loehr:

139 Semicircular Fish Figure
Carved from a collared disk (the type of disk represented by Nos. 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103) of translucent, deep celadon-green jade. The pectoral fins, cut from the perpendicular collar, stand out transversely on both sides of the flat body. The segment behind the tail fin is shaped as an extended second tail. Shang or Western Chou.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.50.415
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. 139, p. 120
  • Jenny So, Early Chinese Jades in the Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2019), pp. 116, 118, fig. 2

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