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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.50.202
Title
Jade Animal Mask
Classification
Ritual Implements
Work Type
ornament
Date
14th cent. BCE - 8th cent. 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/204912

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Squarish piece of opaque, mottled gray-green, slightly calcified jade
Dimensions
4.3 x 4.5 x 0.5 cm (1 11/16 x 1 3/4 x 3/16 in.)
unspecified: 25 g

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. 161 by Max Loehr:

161 Animal Mask
Squarish piece of opaque, mottled gray-green, slightly calcified jade. The front is executed in low thread-relief lines as a feline t’ao t’ieh mask with large recumbent _C_-ears. To the left and right of the broad muzzle, which ends in angular volutes, are flat, angular bands that fill the corners below the eyes. A notch and vertical groove between the ears emphasize the central axis. Plain back; perforated in the middle. 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
1943.50.202
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Dorothy W. Gillerman, ed., Grenville L. Winthrop: Retrospective for a Collector, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, 1969), no. 006, pp. 8-9, repr.
  • 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. 161, p. 131
  • Jenny So, Early Chinese Jades in the Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2019), p. 182, fig. 2

Verification Level

This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or 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