A dark green jade disk with a circle cut out in the middle. The center circle is fairly small. There is a faint pattern throughout the piece made of small circles.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

The dark green jade disk has a circle cut out in the middle and lays flat on a grey background. There are pale yellow discolored spots on the bottom half of the piece that blend into the green. The center circle is fairly small. There is a faint pattern throughout the piece made of small circles and rings.

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
1943.50.549
Title
Large Jade Disk
Classification
Ritual Implements
Work Type
disk
Date
3rd-2nd century BCE
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period
Warring States period (475-221 BCE) to Western Han period (206 BCE-9 CE)
Culture
Chinese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/204863

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
Moderately translucent, variegated bluish green and greenish gray nephrite
Dimensions
Diam. 26.8 x Thickness 0.9 cm (10 9/16 x 3/8 in.)

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. 533 by Max Loehr:

533 Large Ornate Disk
Magnificent, heavy piece, cut from an evenly thick slab of moderately translucent, variegated bluish green and greenish gray jade. As in No. 531, the design, identical on both sides, consists of an outer zone with a design of four animal heads and curvilinear bodies, and a broader inner zone of relief hexagonal units. Here, however, the hexagons bear incised spirals. On either side of the inner zone are two circles, suggesting loosely twisted ropes. Compared with No. 530, the design of the “bucraniums” is simplified, and instead of the overlapping, wing-like elements there appear S -shaped figures with bird heads. The execution of the grooved outlines is less careful than in the case of No. 531. Late Western or early Eastern Han.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.50.549
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. 533, p. 370

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