- Gallery Text
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In Neolithic China, nephrite and other beautiful stones were fashioned into nonfunctional ceremonial blades and ritual implements that were buried in the graves of important people. Many of the same types of jades, such as the diskshaped ritual implement known as a bi, were used during subsequent periods as well.
- Identification and Creation
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- Object Number
- 1943.50.59
- Title
- Zhang Blade
- Classification
- Ritual Implements
- Work Type
- scepter
- Date
- Longshan or Erlitou culture, c. 2000 - c. 1700 BCE
- Places
- Creation Place: East Asia, China
- Period
- Neolithic period
- Culture
- Chinese
- Persistent Link
- https://hvrd.art/o/204924
- Location
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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
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- Medium
- Black nephrite with faint markings
- Dimensions
- H. 38 x W. 10.4 x Thickness 0.8 cm (14 15/16 x 4 1/8 x 5/16 in.)
Weight 446 g
- Provenance
- [Ton-Ying & Co., January 8, 1935] sold; to Grenville L. Winthrop, New York (1935-1943), bequest; to Fogg Art Museum, 1943.
- Published Text
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- 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. 220 by Max Loehr:
220 Scepter
Black jade with faint markings. Flat blade with concave sides, flaring strongly toward the two prongs of its concave upper edge, which is sharpened from one side only. The base juts far out over the tang, forming descending projections with hooks pointing upward. The perforation of the tang is conical, drilled from one side. On the same side, a longitudinal saw-cut runs along the edge of the tang and into the lower portion of the blade. Western Chou. - Acquisition and Rights
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- Credit Line
- Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
- Accession Year
- 1943
- Object Number
- 1943.50.59
- Division
- Asian and Mediterranean Art
- Contact
- am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
- THIS WORK MAY NOT BE LENT BY THE TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION TO THE HARVARD ART MUSEUMS.
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- Publication History
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Max Loehr and Louisa G. Fitzgerald Huber, Ancient Chinese Jades from the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection in the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1975), cat. no. 220, pp. 170-171
Jenny So, Early Chinese Jades in the Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2019), cat. no. 7A, pp. 92-94
- Exhibition History
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32Q: 1740 Early China I, Harvard Art Museums, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050
- Subjects and Contexts
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Google Art Project
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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