1943.51.3: Jade Spearhead in a Bronze Socket
Ritual ImplementsIdentification and Creation
- Object Number
- 1943.51.3
- Title
- Jade Spearhead in a Bronze Socket
- Classification
- Ritual Implements
- Work Type
- spearhead
- Date
- 16th cent. BCE - 11th cent. BCE
- Places
- Creation Place: East Asia, China
- Period
- Shang dynasty, c. 1600-c. 1050 BCE
- Culture
- Chinese
- Persistent Link
- https://hvrd.art/o/204559
Physical Descriptions
- Medium
- Calcified greenish brown nephrite blade with traces of cinnabar; bronze socket inlaid with turquoise
- Technique
- Inlaid
- Dimensions
-
21 x 5.8 x 0.6 cm (8 1/4 x 2 5/16 x 1/4 in.)
unspecified: 142 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. 82 by Max Loehr:
82 Jade Spearhead in a Bronze Socket
Greenish brown jade, calcified and discolored to a considerable extent, covered with cinnabar on one face near the tip. The leaf-shaped blade has a raised median crest and irregularly shaped beveled edges. It is mounted in a heart-shaped socket on top of tapering bronze tube. Both the tube and the socket are embellished with turquoise inlay; a t’ao-t’ieh mask with convolute horns appears at the socket, while the design on the tube, presumably a “dragon” tail composed of lozenges, is hidden under an incrustation of green oxide. Remnants of the wooden shaft remain in the tube. Shang.
Acquisition and Rights
- Credit Line
- Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
- Accession Year
- 1943
- Object Number
- 1943.51.3
- 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.
The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.
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 (Cambridge, MA, Fogg Art Museum, 1975)., cat. no. 82, p. 81
Related Objects
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