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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.52.127
Title
Jade Sword Guard (attached to a fragment of an iron blade)
Classification
Ritual Implements
Work Type
guard
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/204416

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Pale green nephrite mounted on the fragment of a tanged, iron blade
Dimensions
H. 1.7 x W. 5.8 cm (11/16 x 2 5/16 in.)

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. 574 by Max Loehr:

574 Sword Guard
The guard of pale green jade, which is beginning to decompose along the back of the dragon figure, is mounted on the fragment of a tanged, iron blade. The tang is sheathed in wood that has mineralized. The guard, rhombic in cross-section, is decorated on one side with a strongly formalized, angular tiger mask, partly executed in low relief and partly engraved; on the other side is the full-round figures of a dragon. This dragon so closely resembles the larger of the two dragons on the scabbard buckle No. 572 that we may assume that both pieces belonged to the same sword. Western Han.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.52.127
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. 574, p. 397
  • Jenny So, Early Chinese Jades in the Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2019), pp. 254-5, cat. 36A

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