Jade Disk with Four Animal Figures on the Rim

Identification and Creation

Object Number: 1943.50.546
Title: Jade Disk with Four Animal Figures on the Rim
Classification: Ritual Implements
Work Type: disk
Date: 206 BCE - 220 CE (?)
Places: Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period: Han dynasty, 206 BCE-220 CE
Culture: Chinese
Persistent Link: https://hvrd.art/o/204862

Physical Descriptions

Medium: Pale green translucent nephrite with brownish markings
Dimensions: Diam. 16.5 x Thickness 0.7 cm (6 1/2 x 1/4 in.)
211 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)

Catalogue entry no. 538 by Max Loehr:

538 Disk with Four Animal Figures on the Rim
Large disk with a wide perforation, fashioned of pale green translucent jade with brownish markings. On the rim, at opposite points, four small quadrupeds with sinuous bodies are carved in the round. Two of them face front, while the other two look in the opposite direction. One of them, smaller than the rest, is distinguished by its protruding, round eyes, which contrast with the flattish, feline eyes of the others. One side of the disk is decorated with chordal rows of raised spirals, the other with round dots. The perforation is cylindrical, but is beveled on the side decorated with dots. Han.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

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

Accession Year

1943

Object Number

1943.50.546

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Contact

am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Permissions

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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. 538, p. 375

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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