Ornate Jade Disk | Harvard Art Museums

Identification and Creation

Object Number: 1943.50.589
Title: Ornate Jade Disk
Classification: Ritual Implements
Work Type: disk
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/204604

Physical Descriptions

Medium: Warm gray translucent nephrite with russet markings and dark brown, nearly opaque areas
Dimensions: 0.6 x 18.2 cm (1/4 x 7 3/16 in.)
unspecified: 398 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. 532 by Max Loehr:

532 Ornate Disk
The disk, made of warm gray translucent jade with russet markings and dark brown, nearly opaque areas, bears a décor composed of two zones separated by a distinctly rope-like circle, similar to disk No. 530. As in the latter, the outer zone shows the “bucranium” motif repeated four times, although it is executed here in a coarser and more angular manner. The design of the inner zone, however, consisting of a concentrically arranged pattern of engraved, paired spirals which increase in size in proportion to their distance from the center, is quite unlike the hexagon patterns of Nos. 530, 531, and the large disk No. 533. The décor is identical on both sides of the disk. The perforation, strongly conical, was drilled from one side. Western Han(?).

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

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

Accession Year

1943

Object Number

1943.50.589

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, Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1975), cat. no. 532, p. 369

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

Your Collection

Log in to the Harvard Art Museums