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A long flat chisel blade of orange and green jade

A narrow piece of jade, colored yellow-green with amorphous burnt orange areas, is shaped into a long rectangle. One short edge is beveled thinner, and the opposite side has a small perfectly circular hole cut a short distance from the edge. This side has a light orange colored streak running the width at the edge. Both this and the cutting side have tiny chips missing at the edge.

Gallery Text

In Neolithic China, nephrite and other beautiful stones were fashioned into nonfunctional ceremonial blades and ritual implements that were buried in the graves of important people. Many of the same types of jades, such as the diskshaped ritual implement known as a bi, were used during subsequent periods as well.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.50.45
Title
Heavy, Long Jade Chisel
Classification
Ritual Implements
Work Type
chisel
Date
Longshan or Erlitou culture, c. 2000 - c. 1700 BCE
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period
Neolithic period
Culture
Chinese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/205265

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
Mottled dark brown and deep olive-green, fine-grained stone
Dimensions
H. 34.6 x W. 6.5 x Thickness 1.4 cm (13 5/8 x 2 9/16 x 9/16 in.)
Weight 660 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. 199 by Max Loehr:

199 Heavy, Long Chisel
Mottled dark brown and deep olive-green, fine-grained stone. The blade has subtly inward curved sides, flat upper and lower surfaces, a beveled cutting edge, and a slanting, semifinished butt. The conical perforation is drilled from one side and reamed at the opposite side. Western Chou(?).

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.50.45
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. 199, pp. 156-157

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