Small Jade Dagger-Axe with Serrated and Grooved Tang

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: 1943.50.78
Title: Small Jade Dagger-Axe with Serrated and Grooved Tang
Other Titles: Alternate Title: ko
Classification: Ritual Implements
Work Type: dagger-axe
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/204895

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: Greenish-yellow nephrite with light brown spots and traces of cinnabar on the surface
Dimensions: L. 15.7 x W. 5.3 x Thickness 0.3 cm (6 3/16 x 2 1/16 x 1/8 in.)
Weight 45 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. 43 by Max Loehr:

43 Small Dagger-Axe with Serrated and Grooved Tang
Greenish yellow jade with light brown spots and traces of cinnabar on the surface. Thin, crested blade, beveled along the upper and lower edges. At the tip, the bevels blend into the smoothly sloping surfaces. On each side of the base of the blade runs a band of incised lozenges, filled with small lozenges and triangles. The tang, which widens toward the butt, is decorated with four paired, flat bands, each with an incised line and a tiny notch at the end; the bands are separated by narrow grooves which form indentations along the back of the tang. An approximately cylindrical hole along the center axis adjoins the base of the blade. Late Shang.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop

Accession Year

1943

Object Number

1943.50.78

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.

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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. 43, p. 61

Exhibition History

S427: Ancient Chinese Bronzes and Jades, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 10/20/1985 - 04/30/2008
32Q: 1740 Early China I, Harvard Art Museums, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

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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

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1943.50.78: Small Jade Dagger-Axe with Serrated and Grooved Tang