Add to Collection

Add this item to an existing or new collection.
Harvard Art Museums
Incorrect Username, Email, or Password
A jade statuette of a short person standing upright. They are wearing a wrapped robe that shows their feet and arms. Their hands are in front of their stomach. Their head is large with carved lines detailing the face. They are wearing a tall, cylindrical

A jade statuette of a short person standing upright and facing the viewer. The figure is off-white and on a grey background. They’re standing on two small, round nubs for feet. They are wearing a wrapped robe that shows their feet and arms. Their hands are in front of their stomach and have lines to show fingers. Their head is large with carved lines detailing the face. They have carved lines for a small mouth, a round nose, small slanted eyes, and detailed eyebrows. They are wearing a tall, cylindrical hat on their head.

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
1943.50.321
Title
Jade Statuette of a Standing Dignitary
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/204810

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
Calcified, grayish white nephrite, originally greenish in color
Dimensions
H. 8.7 x W. 2.4 cm (3 7/16 x 15/16 in.)
Weight 67 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. 123 by Max Loehr:

123 Statuette of a Standing Dignitary
Full-rounded figure of calcified, grayish white jade, originally greenish in color. The personage represented is distinguished by a tall, flattish hat that flares toward the top corners and at the back shows a broad, flat, downward extension which does not, however, cover the neck. The hat is marked by three horizontal grooves in front, the lower one following the outline of the extension at the back. The figure wears a kind of tunic with a broad collar, a broad belt, and a flaring panel suspended from the belt. The garment under the tunic reaches down to the ground at the back, but in the front leaves the feet uncovered. The man’s features are similar to, though more carefully modeled than those of No. 121, except that the lids are in relief and the eyes are marked by a small depression. The hands are held in the horizontal position characteristic of all the preceding figures, while the feet are in the usual, slightly pigeon-toed position. Late 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
1943.50.321
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.

The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.

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. 123, p. 112
  • Meryl Faith Cohen, "Ancient Chinese Jade Figures in the Winthrop Collection: An Anthropological Inquiry" (thesis (certificate in conservation), Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, March 1990), Unpublished, pp. 1-110 passim
  • Jenny So, Early Chinese Jades in the Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2019), p. 144, ill.; pp. 162, 164-65, cat. 19C

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

  • Collection Highlights
  • 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