Carved jade sculpture of a stylized central human figure and mask framed by two birds.
front Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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front Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

Jade sculpture of a stylized human figure with raised features including a mouth marked by a straight incised line, a nose with rounded nostrils, almond shaped eyes and arched eyebrows. Two ovals frame the face, suggesting ears. A raised oval with a concave circle is fixed at the figures neck. The figure is flanked by two stylized birds with hammer-shaped beaks that curve backward, forming two circles of negative space. The bird's bodies are marked with a repetitive linear pattern. Between the birds and below the figure is a stylized mask with swirling horns and pointed ears.

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
1943.50.322
Title
Jade Composite Sculpture of Human Bust, Birds, and Taotie Mask
Classification
Ritual Implements
Work Type
finial
Date
12th-10th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period
Shang dynasty (c. 1600-c. 1050 BCE) to Western Zhou period (c. 1050-771 BCE)
Culture
Chinese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/204811

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
Polished, mottled grayish green nephrite
Dimensions
H. 5.9 x W. 6.8 x D. 2.4 cm (2 5/16 x 2 11/16 x 15/16 in.)
Weight 57 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. 245 by Max Loehr:

245 Composite Sculpture of Human Bust, Birds, and T’ao-t’ieh Mask, Serving as a Finial
Polished, mottled gray-green jade. The center of this striking composite image is fashioned as the bust of a human being. The face shows small, incised eyes, smooth, raised eyebrows, a pouting mouth, and large, pierced ears. The head tapers on top, where there is a deep drill-hole. The figure has sloping shoulders and a rectangular jewel(?) at the throat. The hair, which appears only at the back, is evenly striated but terminates in a small curl. To the left and right at the back of the neck are rows of three widely spaced small dots in relief. Beneath them is carved out a large, round button with a circular depression at its center; its edge is partly fractured. Instead of arms the figure has two birds that face outward; they have long necks with scaly plumage, short crests, hammer-shaped beaks, disproportionately short wings, and animal-like claws. The same details appear at the back. Between the birds and covering the downward-protruding socket with its relatively wide opening is a t’ao-t’ieh mask with convolute horns and pointed ears. Lateral perforations pierce the socket wall from both sides, just below the level of the birds, and enable the finial to be fastened securely to a staff. Seen from the bottom, the object has the shape of a segment with the back forming the perimeter. Western Chou.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.50.322
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. 245, p. 187

Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 1740 Early China I, Harvard Art Museums, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

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