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A jade sculpture of a bear sitting upright with its front and rear legs in front of it. Its front paws rest on its rear legs’ knees. The face has a long snout with two little eyes and ears. The sculpture is very square in shape and caramel colored.

A jade sculpture of a bear sitting upright on its rear with its front and rear legs in front of it. Its front paws rest on its rear legs’ knees. The face has a long snout with two little eyes and ears. The sculpture is very square in shape with few decorative details. The sculpture is caramel colored with a medium grey background.

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
1943.50.309
Title
Jade Seated Bear
Classification
Ritual Implements
Work Type
figurine
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/204792

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
Opaque, light brownish green and slightly calcified cream-colored nephrite
Dimensions
H. 3.5 x W. 1.5 x D. 2 cm (1 3/8 x 9/16 x 13/16 in.)
Weight 20 g

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[Yamanaka & Co., New York, December 28, 1940] sold; to Grenville L. Winthrop, New York (1940-1943), 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. 156 by Max Loehr:

156 Seated Bear
Opaque, light brownish green and slightly calcified cream-colored jade with smooth surfaces. The angular, compact figure is cut from a prism that still determines much of the general shape: the straight back, the flat sides, the straight line connecting the nose, forepaws, and feet. Straight slots serve to separate the head and limbs from the body. Only the ears stand free. The face has a very light median crest, small shallow drill-holes for eyes, and a ridge to form the nose; the mouth is indicated by a frontal groove. At the bottom, the tail is marked by two incisions. At the back, the corners are rounded off. A slanting perforation is drilled at the back of the neck. Early Shang.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.50.309
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Publication History

  • Dorothy W. Gillerman, ed., Grenville L. Winthrop: Retrospective for a Collector, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, 1969), no. 007, pp. 8-9
  • 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. 156, p. 128
  • Jenny So, Early Chinese Jades in the Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2019), pp. 166-69, cat. 20A

Exhibition History

  • S427: Ancient Chinese Bronzes and Jades, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 10/20/1985 - 04/30/2008
  • 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