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An ornate triangular shaped dragon with its head in the upper right corner, facing right with open mouth about to chomp on a curl.　

Sleek and angular, the dragon’s neck is curled up against its back to fit a triangular shape with its hind leg stretched up to form the horizontal top section that points left. Ornate thin lines are carved into it to accentuate the face, neck, and curls along the body. The curly tips of the mouth, tail, and other edges look sharp. It’s a pale green color and the upper left tip of the object is smokey brown, the surface is highly polished.

Gallery Text

During the Warring States and Han periods, jades functioned not only as ritual and burial items, but also as objects of personal adornment for the living. Other luxury materials, such as gold, bronze, and glass began to be incorporated with jades with greater frequency.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.50.442.B
Title
Feline in Decorative Jade Triangle (one of a pair)
Classification
Ritual Implements
Work Type
ornament
Date
3rd century BCE
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period
Warring States period (475-221 BCE) to Western Han period (206 BCE-9 CE)
Culture
Chinese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/205058

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
Strongly translucent, pale green and smoke-colored nephrite
Dimensions
H. 6.5 x W. 11.8 x Thickness 0.5 cm (2 9/16 x 4 5/8 x 3/16 in.)
Weight 29 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. 447b by Max Loehr:

447 Pair of Felines in Decorative Triangles
Strongly translucent, pale green and smoke-colored jade, polished to a high gloss. The feline’s sleek, sharp-cornered head occupy the right angles of the two triangles formed by the straight outer edges of their bodies and appendages. The surfaces are modeled in low relief and ornamented by incised lines. A band suggesting simplified cowries is incised at the neck of each animal. Treated identically on both sides, these pieces obviously were not made to serve as inlays. 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
1943.50.442.B
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. 447b, p. 306
  • Jenny So, Early Chinese Jades in the Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2019), pp. 214, 216-17, cat. 26B

Exhibition History

  • S427: Ancient Chinese Bronzes and Jades, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 10/20/1985 - 04/30/2008
  • 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