Jade Axe-Shaped Tablet | Harvard Art Museums

Identification and Creation

Object Number: 1943.50.10
Title: Jade Axe-Shaped Tablet
Classification: Ritual Implements
Work Type: axe
Date: late 19th - early 20th century
Places: Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period: Qing dynasty, 1644-1911
Culture: Chinese
Persistent Link: https://hvrd.art/o/205222

Physical Descriptions

Medium: Gray translucent nephrite with russet veins and markings
Dimensions: H. 12.5 x W. 7.5 x D. 0.5 cm (4 15/16 x 2 15/16 x 3/16 in.)
Weight 103 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)

583 Axe-shaped Tablet
Gray translucent jade with russet veins and markings. Flat slab with a shapeless, slanting butt and an asymmetrically curved cutting edge. A wide band of sunken spiral patterns and cross-hatched fields covers the upper half of both sides. There are three perforations: a neatly drilled conical one, above the ornament; a smaller one, drilled from the opposite side, and a third, fragmentary one, at the butt. Han or later.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

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

Accession Year

1943

Object Number

1943.50.10

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, Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1975), cat. no. 583, p. 404

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

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