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A jade buckle piece that is shaped into a rectangle and shown horizontally. It is pale yellow-green in color. There are many swirling relief lines through the piece that create a pattern.

The jade buckle piece is shaped into a rectangle and shown horizontally. It is pale yellow-green in color and on a dark grey background. There are many swirling relief lines through the piece that create a pattern. There is a small frame along the edges. One can see that the piece is raised off the surface to show its depth.

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
1943.50.375
Title
Jade Scabbard Buckle
Classification
Ritual Implements
Work Type
ornament
Date
206 BCE - 9 CE
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period
Han dynasty, Western Han period, 206 BCE-9 CE
Culture
Chinese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/203252

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
Highly translucent, whitish jade with buff markings, slightly calcified
Dimensions
L. 8.5 x W. 2.6 x D. 1.4 cm (3 3/8 x 1 x 9/16 in.)
Weight 46 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. 569 by Max Loehr:

569 Scabbard Buckle
Highly translucent, whitish jade with buff markings, becoming slightly calcified in places. Similar to, but shorter and less perfectly shaped than, No. 458. The décor consists of a pair of eyes with obliquely striated brows followed lower down by pairs of C -shaped volutes, interlocked lengthwise and crosswise, executed in raised lines Later Western Han(?).

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.50.375
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. 569, p. 394

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