Ornate, curly, and fairly flat jade carving of a dragon in motion yet overall contained in a rectangle configuration.　
front Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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front Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

It faces towards the right as its head turns back to look towards its tail on the left, with a partially open mouth and curled up snout. Its texture is made of small swirling bumps throughout. Stylized curly ques for feet and tail. It’s about the size of something that could fit in the palm of a hand. Its color varies slightly from creamy brown into green-grey.i

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
1943.50.440
Title
Jade Dragon Silhouette
Classification
Ritual Implements
Work Type
ornament
Date
4th 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/204683

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
Highly polished, faintly translucent, cream-colored and gray-green nephrite
Dimensions
H. 6.6 x W. 11.1 x Thickness 0.4 cm (2 5/8 x 4 3/8 x 3/16 in.)
Weight 55 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. 423 by Max Loehr:

423 Dragon Silhouette
Magnificently designed curvilinear dragon figure of highly polished, faintly translucent, cream-colored and gray-green jade. The head, distinguished by the angular, horizontal outline of the lower jaw, is turned back. The body forms a continuously curving band of varying width covered with plastic curls; it contrasts with a pronounced pattern of striated, pointed volutes and fluted, blunt, wing-like appendages issuing from the body at varying interval. Both the design and a perforation at the top center indicate a horizontal position for this exquisite pendant. Late Eastern Chou.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.50.440
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. 423, p. 290
  • Jenny So, Early Chinese Jades in the Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2019), p. 184, ill.; pp. 210, 212-13, cat. 25D

Exhibition History

  • Re-View: S228-230 Arts of Asia, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 05/31/2008 - 06/01/2013
  • 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