Gilt Bronze Buckle with Jade Inlay

Identification and Creation

Object Number: 1943.52.56
Title: Gilt Bronze Buckle with Jade Inlay
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/204657

Physical Descriptions

Medium: Gilt bronze with nephrite and turquoise inlay
Dimensions: 23 x 3.4 x 3.9 cm (9 1/16 x 1 5/16 x 1 9/16 in.)
unspecified: 219 g

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. 576 by Max Loehr:

576 Inlaid Gilt Bronze Buckle
The long, slender gilt bronze frame, terminating in a neatly modeled animal head with turquoise eyes, is inset with longitudinally grooved jade panels and four transverse jade bars. Filling the end of the buckle is a jade animal-mask plaque. The side of the frame are decorated with symmetrically laid-out serpent-dragons in low relief; their heads form clamps which hold the two transverse jade bars farthest removed from the center. Flanking the panel nearest the hook appear two larger profile dragon heads in relief, which face toward the hook; their eyes are inset with turquoise. Serving as a clamp for the animal mask plaque is a small bird-like head, again with turquoise eyes; this head is linked to vaguely wing-shaped elements on the sides.

The particular bright green color of the jade inlay, suggestive of jadeite rather than nephrite, may have been caused by bronze oxide resulting from contact with the frame. Western Han(?).

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop

Accession Year

1943

Object Number

1943.52.56

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Contact

am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

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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. 576, p. 398

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

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