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A 3D sculpture of a buffalo that is round in shape and off-white and dark green in color. The buffalo is facing the left. The buffalo has a small, round snout and horns. The body of the buffalo has curved engraved lines. The buffalo’s rear is wide and round.

The sculpture is of a buffalo that is round in shape and off-white and dark green in color along its middle section. The buffalo is facing the left and is standing up. The buffalo has a small, round snout and flat horns. The buffalo’s front legs are bent forward and the read legs are small. The body of the buffalo has curved engraved lines along its whole body. The buffalo’s rear is wide and round.

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
1943.50.267
Title
Jade Buffalo in the Round
Classification
Ritual Implements
Work Type
figurine
Date
12th-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/204682

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
Deep sea-green and calcified, cream-colored nephrite, carved in the round
Dimensions
H. 2.9 x W. 4.8 x D. 2.3 cm (1 1/8 x 1 7/8 x 7/8 in.)
Weight 52 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. 148 by Max Loehr:

148 Buffalo in the Round
Deep sea-green and calcified, cream-colored jade, carved in the round. The eyes are rendered as incised rhombi. Horns and ears are in relief. Longitudinal and transverse channels set the feet off from the bulky body. The legs are not folded under in the more naturalistic pose characteristic of No. 149. Some of the engraved double-line hooks and volutes mark the shoulders and haunches, while others are purely ornamental. A conical perforation is drilled from below through the ledge between the forefeet. Shang.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.50.267
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. 148, p. 123

Exhibition History

  • S427: Ancient Chinese Bronzes and Jades, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 10/20/1985 - 04/30/2008
  • 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