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A flat jade pendant of a person that is dark green in color and has been carved with fine lines to outline a wrapped robe, belt, draped sleeves, their face, hair, and a small head piece. There are two protruding, round shaped coming out from the neck with

The flat jade pendant is of a standing person that is dark green in color and shown vertically flat on a dark grey background. It has been carved with fine lines to outline a wrapped robe, belt, draped sleeves, their face, hair, and a small head piece. Their sleeves come together in front of their stomach. There are two protruding, round shaped coming out from the neck with negative space cut out.

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
1943.50.327
Title
Jade Pendant in the Shape of a Human Figure
Classification
Ritual Implements
Work Type
pendant
Date
475-221 BCE
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period
Zhou dynasty, Warring States period, 475-221 BCE
Culture
Chinese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/204797

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
Yellowish green nephrite with light brown calcified spots
Dimensions
H. 5 x W. 1.7 x Thickness 0.7 cm (1 15/16 x 11/16 x 1/4 in.)
Weight 11 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. 409 by Max Loehr:

409 Pendant in the Shape of a Human Figure
Yellowish green jade with light brown calcified spots. The plano-convex piece is worked into a statuette, apparently of a woman, wearing a kimono-like gown with long sleeves and a broad sash. The hands, held in front, are hidden in the sleeves. The hair, parted in the middle, frames the forehead in a step-like manner, and juts out stiffly, like a rectangle, under a small, turban-like headdress. A pair of openwork double loops issues from the neck like a bow, and the ends arch back to touch the shoulders and the cheeks. All the edges of the garment are marked by evenly striated borders. A perpendicular drill-hole runs through the axis of the figure. 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
1943.50.327
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. 409, p. 281
  • Jenny So, Early Chinese Jades in the Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2019), pp. 234-5, cat. 30C

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 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