Jade Winged Dragon | Harvard Art Museums

Identification and Creation

Object Number: 1943.50.344
Title: Jade Winged Dragon
Classification: Ritual Implements
Work Type: ornament
Date: 475 BCE - 221 BCE
Places: Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period: Zhou dynasty, Warring States period, 475-221 BCE
Culture: Chinese
Persistent Link: https://hvrd.art/o/205050

Physical Descriptions

Medium: Greenish brown and cream-colored, partly calcified and rather opaque nephrite
Dimensions: 5.8 x 2.8 x 0.5 cm (2 5/16 x 1 1/8 x 3/16 in.)
unspecified: 12 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)

439 Winged Dragon
Greenish brown and cream-colored, partly calcified and rather opaque jade with a highly polished glossy surface. The shape of the body and the way it terminates in a pointed hook resemble Nos. 441 and 442, but here the limbs are not worked out in such studied contortions. The pointed hook motif recurs throughout—at the lower jaw, the short “mane,” the clawed foot, the tip of the wing—producing a harmonious and unified whole. The wing cutting obliquely across the body is a feature reminiscent of the dragon-and-bird pendant, No. 427:“468”:https://www.harvardartmuseums.org/collections/object/204746?position=0, and the shape of the head is closer to the dragons than to the two felines described above (No. 438). Late Eastern Chou.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop

Accession Year

1943

Object Number

1943.50.344

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, Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1975), cat. no. 439, p. 301

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

Your Collection

Log in to the Harvard Art Museums