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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.50.344
Title
Jade Winged Dragon
Classification
Ritual Implements
Work Type
ornament
Date
475 BCE - 221 BCE
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period
Zhou dynasty, Warring States period, 475-221 BCE
Culture
Chinese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/205050

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Greenish brown and cream-colored, partly calcified and rather opaque nephrite
Dimensions
5.8 x 2.8 x 0.5 cm (2 5/16 x 1 1/8 x 3/16 in.)
unspecified: 12 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. 439 by Max Loehr:

439 Winged Dragon
Greenish brown and cream-colored, partly calcified and rather opaque jade with a highly polished glossy surface. The shape of the body and the way it terminates in a pointed hook resemble Nos. 441 and 442, but here the limbs are not worked out in such studied contortions. The pointed hook motif recurs throughout—at the lower jaw, the short “mane,” the clawed foot, the tip of the wing—producing a harmonious and unified whole. The wing cutting obliquely across the body is a feature reminiscent of the dragon-and-bird pendant, No. 427:“468”:https://www.harvardartmuseums.org/collections/object/204746?position=0, and the shape of the head is closer to the dragons than to the two felines described above (No. 438). Late Eastern Chou.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.50.344
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. 439, p. 301

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