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An ivory colored dagger blade of carved jade

The blade is carved with a spine that runs down its center to the point, which curves slightly to one side. On either side of the spine are two broad facets, each with an edge that is beveled almost all the way to the point. On the opposite end of the point, where the blade joins the tang, is an incised design of a narrow band of diamond shapes. The tang is shorter, about one quarter of the length of the blade, and is divided lengthwise into narrow segments. Some segments are raised, and slightly longer, and these alternate with segments that are carved slightly deeper.

Gallery Text

The Shang refined Neolithic jade-making practices, fashioning ritual blades and implements of even greater sophistication than those of their predecessors, incorporating jade blades into turquoise-inlaid bronze hafts, and expanding their jade repertoire into representational shapes of humans and animals.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.50.35
Title
Slender Jade Dagger-Axe with Grooved and Crenelated Tang
Other Titles
Alternate Title: ko
Classification
Ritual Implements
Work Type
dagger-axe
Date
12th-10th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period
Shang dynasty (c. 1600-c. 1050 BCE) to Western Zhou period (c. 1050-771 BCE)
Culture
Chinese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/205274

Location

Location
Level 1, Room 1740, Early Chinese Art, Arts of Ancient China from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age
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Physical Descriptions

Medium
Yellowish-buff nephrite with sparse whitish and terracotta-colored markings
Dimensions
L. 25.5 x W. 4.2 x Thickness 0.4 cm (10 1/16 x 1 5/8 x 3/16 in.)
Weight 66 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. 45 by Max Loehr:

45 Slender Dagger-Axe with Grooved and Crenelated Tang
Opaque, yellowish buff jade with sparse whitish and terracotta-colored markings. The uncommonly slender blade is strongly curved; it is crested; and has neatly beveled edges. Its base is marked by a transverse band of three incised, boxed lozenges with simple striations above and below. An unusual feature is that the tang is asymmetrically shaped, so that its butt slants. It is decorated by five flat ribs in low relief, with a tiny notch at the end of each; between them are four angular indentations. Late Shang or Western Chou.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.50.35
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Sueji Umehara, ed., Shina kogyoku zuroku (Selected Specimens of Chinese Archaic Jade), Kuwana Bunseido (Kyoto, Japan, 1955 (Shôwa 30)), pl. 35 left
  • 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. 45, p. 63

Exhibition History

  • Re-View: S228-230 Arts of Asia, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 05/31/2008 - 06/01/2013
  • 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