Jade Symplegma of Animals in Openwork

Identification and Creation

Object Number: 1943.50.387
Title: Jade Symplegma of Animals in Openwork
Classification: Ritual Implements
Work Type: ornament
Date: 4th century BCE
Places: Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period: Zhou dynasty, Warring States period, 475-221 BCE
Culture: Chinese
Persistent Link: https://hvrd.art/o/203286

Physical Descriptions

Medium: Light brown, faintly translucent nephrite
Dimensions: 6.3 x 2.4 x 0.6 cm (2 1/2 x 15/16 x 1/4 in.)
unspecified: 11 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. 380 by Max Loehr:

380 Symplegma of Animals in Openwork
Light brown, faintly translucent jade plaque in the shape of a plano-convex, slender trapezium. The body of this piece consists of two animal figures wrought in openwork. One of them, a quadruped of sorts, is rendered symmetrically; below the head, which lies between the forelegs, its body is split and “twisted” so that the hind legs lie pay to paw. The other, a kind of dragon, is places asymmetrically with its head lowermost. It is joined to the first animal by its curved tail and by two striated extensions that represent the divided tail of the fist. The dragon’s sinuous body is equipped with two unsymmetrical legs. Throughout, these bodies and limbs are painstakingly textured with scales, striae, and granules; the same textures are applied to the identically designed but flatter, reverse side of the plaque. The object is perforated lengthwise. Early Eastern Chou.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

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

Accession Year

1943

Object Number

1943.50.387

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. 380, p. 253

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

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