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Greenish gray jade disk cut into three pieces with two drilled holes in each segment.

Slightly translucent greenish gray jade disk. The stone has areas of yellowish-brown tone and some subtle creamy white calcified streaks and cloudy areas. The disk is of medium thickness with an entirely carved-out circular center. The carving is divided into three distinct sections that are roughly equal in shape and size, but not perfectly identical. Each of the three segments have drilled holes on either side of each segment. The drilled holes of each segment line up with one another.

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
1943.50.602.A-C
Title
Jade Disk in Three Segments
Classification
Ritual Implements
Work Type
disk
Date
16th-8th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period
Shang dynasty (c. 1600-c. 1050 BCE) to Western Zhou period (c. 1050-771 BCE)
Culture
Chinese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/204632

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
Translucent, light greenish gray nephrite with light brown markings and creamy white calcified streaks
Dimensions
ensemble: Diam. 14.5 x Thickness 0.5 cm (5 11/16 x 3/16 in.)
Weight 156 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. 92 by Max Loehr:

92 Disk in Three Segments
Translucent, light greenish gray stone with light brown markings and creamy white calcified streaks. The three segments are of unequal size, their arcs measuring about 130, 102, and 128 degrees. A slightly curved ledge on the underside of one segment (c) suggests the use of a very large swinging saw; an apparently straight ledge—intersected by the perforation—remains on another segment (a). Near the adjoining edges of the three segments, small conical holes have been drilled, which would permit the pieces to be held together by thongs or wires. Shang or Western Chou(?).

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. 92 by Max Loehr:

92 Disk in Three Segments
Translucent, light greenish gray stone with light brown markings and creamy white calcified streaks. The three segments are of unequal size, their arcs measuring about 130, 102, and 128 degrees. A slightly curved ledge on the underside of one segment (c) suggests the use of a very large swinging saw; an apparently straight ledge—intersected by the perforation—remains on another segment (a). Near the adjoining edges of the three segments, small conical holes have been drilled, which would permit the pieces to be held together by thongs or wires. Shang or Western Chou(?).

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.50.602.A-C
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. 92, p. 91
  • Jenny So, Early Chinese Jades in the Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2019), p. 96, fig. 1

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