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Vertical oblong shape, widest in the middle, as if an animal standing up, with a small creature’s head on top.　

The creature’s carved gold body is widest in the middle, its small bird-like head looks straight at the viewer with turquoise-colored eyes.　Three openings down the center reveal jade encased within the belly. It looks like something that could fit in the hand.

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
1943.52.60
Title
Gold Garment Hook with Three Jade Inlays
Classification
Ritual Implements
Work Type
ornament
Date
4th-3rd century BCE
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period
Zhou dynasty, Warring States period, 475-221 BCE
Culture
Chinese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/204389

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
Gold with nephrite and glass inlays and a silver knob
Dimensions
H. 14.6 x W. 3.3 x D. 3.5 cm (5 3/4 x 1 5/16 x 1 3/8 in.)
Weight 288 g

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[C. T. Loo & Co., New York, January 28, 1930] sold; to Grenville L. Winthrop, New York (1930-1943), 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. 475 by Max Loehr:

475 Heavy Gold Buckle with Jade Inlay
Cast gold body with bird-head hook on top and a fish-like monster-head below. The front is open and filled with three oval pieces of gray jade with central furrows (resembling coffee beans), separated and held in place by two transverse, fluted bands which form part of the gold frame. In side view, the design of the frame seems to suggest the wings and tail feathers of a bird. The bird’s eyes, as well as the eyes of the fish-like head below, are inlaid with particles of turquoise or turquoise-colored glass. In addition, there are three large white eye-beads with bluish irides, two of which are set into the frame on either side of the lower transverse band, and a single one at the forehead of the “fish.” The hollow back is filled with what appears to be a solid mass of cast(?) lead, the surface of which is oxidized. From the middle of this lead filling rises a strong, convex silver button. Late Eastern Chou or early Western Han

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.52.60
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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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. 475, p. 325
  • Jenny So, Early Chinese Jades in the Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2019), pp. 41-42, fig. 2.21a-b
  • Katherine Eremin, Angela Chang, and Ariel O'Connor, Jade in the Lab, Early Chinese jades in the Harvard Art Museums, Harvard Art Museum (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2019), Pages 28-47, Figure 2.21a-b, Page 42

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