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A polished jade blade is set in a bronze handle inlaid with turquoise

Gray and buff colored jade is carved to a somewhat rectangular shape, with one side angled to a blunt point at the tip. The blade is set in a bronze handle with a short haft the same width as the blade. Behind the haft is a narrow hand guard, from which the rest of the handle extends. The handle is narrower than the haft and curves downward at the end. The bronze handle and haft are fitted with a mosaic of small turquoise pieces in varying shades of blue green set in a geometric design. Bronze oxide encrusts much of the handle.

Gallery Text

The Shang refined Neolithic jade-making practices, fashioning ritual blades and implements of even greater sophistication than those of their predecessors, incorporating jade blades into turquoise-inlaid bronze hafts, and expanding their jade repertoire into representational shapes of humans and animals.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.51.6
Title
Dagger-Axe in a Bronze Haft with Curved End
Other Titles
Alternate Title: ko
Classification
Ritual Implements
Work Type
dagger-axe
Date
12th-11th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period
Shang dynasty, c. 1600-c. 1050 BCE
Culture
Chinese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/204613

Location

Location
Level 1, Room 1740, Early Chinese Art, Arts of Ancient China from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age
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Physical Descriptions

Medium
Olive-green and gray nephrite blade; bronze haft inlaid with turquoise
Technique
Inlaid
Dimensions
L. 27.8 x W. 6.7 x Thickness 0.5 cm (10 15/16 x 2 5/8 x 3/16 in.)
Weight 309 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. 79 by Max Loehr:

79 Jade Dagger-Axe in a Bronze Haft with Curved Butt
Flattish, biconvex blade of olive-green and gray jade with light buff clouds. The blade is mounted into a tang with a rectangular socket, a vertical hafting bar and a curved butt. Both the socket and the butt are decorated with turquoise set into cloisons: the socket shows a t’ao-t’ieh mask; the tang, a “dragon” figure with convolute tail. A layer of bronze oxide covers the left side of the tang, while the right side has been cleaned to expose the inlay patterns. Shang.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.51.6
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. 79, p. 79
  • Jenny So, Early Chinese Jades in the Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2019), pp. 122-25, cat. 12C

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