1943.50.355: Curved Jade Figure of an Owl
Ritual ImplementsThe jade piece is shaped into a curved rectangle and pale green in color. It is shown lying flat vertically on a black background. There are broad, swirling engraved lines throughout the piece. The lines have some red discoloration near the bottom of the piece. The top part of the piece has an engraved circle at the center and a curved cut-out shape to resemble a beak. The middle area is square in shape and has four engraved swirling lines in each corner. The bottom is cut out in an irregular shape and has finer engraved lines.
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
- 1943.50.355
- Title
- Curved Jade Figure of an Owl
- Classification
- Ritual Implements
- Work Type
- pendant
- Date
- 12th-10th century 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/205015
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
- Translucent light green nephrite; traces of cinnabar on the surface
- Dimensions
-
H. 6.1 x W. 2.1 x Thickness 0.3 cm (2 3/8 x 13/16 x 1/8 in.)
Weight 9 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. 126 by Max Loehr:
126 Curved Figure of an Owl
Translucent light green jade; traces of cinnabar on the surface. The figure appears to have been carved from the fragment of a narrow disk. The various parts of the bird’s head and body are rendered as geometric forms. The head, tail, and leg are incised, but angular spirals in thread-relief cover the body or wings. Of the crest only the lowermost section remains; like the short tail, it is marked with fine, even striae. A large perforation gives shape to the underside of the hooked beak; a small hole was drilled above the eyes. Shang.
Acquisition and Rights
- Credit Line
- Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
- Accession Year
- 1943
- Object Number
- 1943.50.355
- 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. 126, p. 114
- Jenny So, Early Chinese Jades in the Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2019), pp. 130, 132, fig. 1
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