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Long rectangular buckle, slightly bowed, featuring two dragon-like animals in relief slinking across the object, eyes locked on each other.

The larger dragon figure faces left, as its curly stylized body slinks along the surface. It has two flattened ears, carved eyebrows, wide nose, and deep set-eyes that look down at a smaller cat-like animal, with an arched back, whose head is close to the ground but turned to look up at the dragon. We see the top of its head and ears as it enters in from the left. Both have curling tails and shadows underneath their bodies. A flat bracket-shaped opening is seen underneath at the bottom. Bone colored and pale green variations, polished surface.

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
1943.50.376
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/203253

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
Pale green and bone-colored, partly calcified and highly polished nephrite
Dimensions
L. 11.7 x W. 2.4 cm (4 5/8 x 15/16 in.)
Weight 80 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. 572 by Max Loehr:

572 Scabbard Buckle
Convex bar with the usual bracket underneath and two full-round dragon figures above. The jade is pale green and bone-colored, partly calcified and highly polished. The larger of the dragons has an angular, feline head, dog-like ears but no horn; its body, forming a double S -curve, is supported by energetically striding legs; it ends in a bifurcated, twisted tail. The smaller of the two beasts has a curious, bird-like head with aquiline beak; it has only two legs, and a bifurcated tail that coalesces with its short body. The curved-back ends resemble those of No. 569. The bottom of the bracket is stained by iron oxide. Western Han.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.50.376
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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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. 034, pp. 28-29
  • 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. 572, p. 395
  • Jenny So, Early Chinese Jades in the Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2019), p. 320, fig. 1

Exhibition History

  • Re-View: S228-230 Arts of Asia, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 05/31/2008 - 06/01/2013
  • 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