Add to Collection

Add this item to an existing or new collection.
Harvard Art Museums
Incorrect Username, Email, or Password
This object does not yet have a description.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.50.109
Title
Broad, Knife-Shaped Jade Tablet
Classification
Ritual Implements
Work Type
knife
Date
c. 4000 BCE - c. 2000 BCE
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period
Neolithic period
Culture
Chinese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/205042

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Dark chocolate-brown nephrite with 20th-century inscription
Dimensions
33 x 13.8 x 0.4 cm (13 x 5 7/16 x 3/16 in.)
unspecified: 465 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. 525 by Max Loehr:

525 Broad, Knife-shaped Tablet
Dark chocolate-brown jade with indistinct markings. The approximately trapezoidal blade has an almost straight back, except for a downward slant at the upper left corner. The double-beveled cutting edge is slightly concave. There are four conical perforations, drilled from the upper side: three along the back, and the fourth along the median near the right edge. On the reverse side there is an inscription of twenty-three Small Seal characters, dated Chien-ch’u 3 (A.D. 78), which is discussed in the Introduction, section on on inscriptions. Eastern Han(?).

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.50.109
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.

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

  • 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. 525, p. 362

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