1943.50.412: Jade Fish
Ritual ImplementsA jade sculpture of a dark brown fish that lies flat on a light grey background. The fish faces the left and has a straight body. The fish is long and flat in shape with carved lines to show top and bottom fins as well as a circle for an eye. The lines are light in color and there is light pink coloring around the eye. The tail is darker in color.
Gallery Text
In the Zhou dynasty the number of jades in burial sites increased significantly, as multiple plaques and beads were sewn or strung together and draped over the face and body of the deceased. Jades in the forms of figures and animals became increasingly realistic, and surface patterns became more complex and highly decorative.
Identification and Creation
- Object Number
- 1943.50.412
- Title
- Jade Fish
- Classification
- Ritual Implements
- Work Type
- pendant
- Date
- possibly 11th-10th century BCE
- Places
- Creation Place: East Asia, China
- Period
- Zhou dynasty, Western Zhou period, c. 1050-771 BCE
- Culture
- Chinese
- Persistent Link
- https://hvrd.art/o/202773
Location
- Location
-
Level 1, Room 1740, Early Chinese Art, Arts of Ancient China from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age
Physical Descriptions
- Medium
- Fine-grained grayish black stone
- Dimensions
-
W. 1.6 x L. 9.1 x Thickness 0.5 cm (5/8 x 3 9/16 x 3/16 in.)
Weight 14 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. 275 by Max Loehr:
275 Fish
Fine-grained grayish black stone. Slender biconvex body, pointed head, and flaring tail. The fish is thicker along its belly than along its dorsal side. A perforation drilled from the front of the mouth connects to one drilled from underneath. Western Chou(?).
Acquisition and Rights
- Credit Line
- Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
- Accession Year
- 1943
- Object Number
- 1943.50.412
- 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
- Dorothy W. Gillerman, ed., Grenville L. Winthrop: Retrospective for a Collector, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, 1969), no. 016, pp. 16-17
- 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. 275, p. 201
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 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