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A jade piece that is shaped into a curved rectangle and is yellow-green in color with some lighter and darker discoloration. It is shown horizontally. There are broad, swirling engraved lines through the piece. The left side’s engraved lines are shaped to

The jade piece is shaped into a curved rectangle and is yellow-green in color with some lighter and darker discoloration. It is shown horizontally on a white background. There are six broad, swirling engraved lines in the center of the piece. The left side has engraved lines that are shaped to show an eye and snout. The right side has no engraved lines and is smooth. On each side of the piece are two small holes.

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
1943.50.357
Title
Jade Arc-Shaped Dragon
Classification
Ritual Implements
Work Type
pendant
Date
16th-11th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period
Shang dynasty, c. 1600-c. 1050 BCE
Culture
Chinese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/198963

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
Translucent yellowish nephrite cut from a fragment of a narrow disk
Dimensions
W. 1.7 x L. 6.2 x Thickness 0.3 cm (11/16 x 2 7/16 x 1/8 in.)
Weight 7 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. 144 by Max Loehr:

144 Arc-shaped Dragon
Translucent yellowish jade pendant, cut from a fragment of a narrow disk. The animal resembles the preceding types, Nos. 141 and 143, as far as the head, horns, and the one pair of feet are concerned. But here these parts are rendered in thread-relief, and their forms are adapted to the segmental arc. The perforation at the mouth is drilled from the left side; that at the sharp-edged projection, from both sides. Shang(?).

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.50.357
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. 144, p. 122

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 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