- 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
- 1943.50.113
- Title
- Jade Axe with Round Edge
- Classification
- Ritual Implements
- Work Type
- axe
- Date
- probably Majiabang culture, c. 5000 - c. 4000 BCE
- Places
- Creation Place: East Asia, China
- Period
- Neolithic period
- Culture
- Chinese
- Persistent Link
- https://hvrd.art/o/204980
- 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
- Variegated, deep celadon-green and light gray stone
- Dimensions
- H. 19.5 x W. 9.1 x Thickness 1.3 cm (7 11/16 x 3 9/16 x 1/2 in.)
Weight 404 g
- Provenance
- Grenville L. Winthrop, New York (by 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. 1 by Max Loehr:
1 Axe with Round Edge
Variegated, deep celadon-green and light grey stone. The elongated body of this axe tapers toward the asymmetrically slanting butt. Flattish biconvex cross-section. The perforation, drilled from both sides, is placed off the median. Save for minor flaws and a natural depression on one side, the surfaces are ground smooth. Neolithic. - 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
- 1943.50.113
- 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.
- The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.
- Publication History
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Dorothy W. Gillerman, ed., Grenville L. Winthrop: Retrospective for a Collector, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, 1969), no. 001, pp. 4-5, repr.
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. 1, p. 32
- 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