Jade Sword Guard (attached to a fragment of an iron blade)

Identification and Creation

Object Number: 1943.52.127
Title: Jade Sword Guard (attached to a fragment of an iron blade)
Classification: Ritual Implements
Work Type: guard
Date: 206 BCE - 9 CE
Places: Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period: Han dynasty, Western Han period, 206 BCE-9 CE
Culture: Chinese
Persistent Link: https://hvrd.art/o/204416

Physical Descriptions

Medium: Pale green nephrite mounted on the fragment of a tanged, iron blade
Dimensions: H. 1.7 x W. 5.8 cm (11/16 x 2 5/16 in.)

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. 574 by Max Loehr:

574 Sword Guard
The guard of pale green jade, which is beginning to decompose along the back of the dragon figure, is mounted on the fragment of a tanged, iron blade. The tang is sheathed in wood that has mineralized. The guard, rhombic in cross-section, is decorated on one side with a strongly formalized, angular tiger mask, partly executed in low relief and partly engraved; on the other side is the full-round figures of a dragon. This dragon so closely resembles the larger of the two dragons on the scabbard buckle No. 572 that we may assume that both pieces belonged to the same sword. Western Han.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

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

Accession Year

1943

Object Number

1943.52.127

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. 574, p. 397

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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