A blue-green flat object that is rectangle-shaped at the bottom with a smaller pentagon shape at the top. It is covered in inlaid turquoise pieces. The edges have a dark grey-green line with rough texture along them that swirl and curve into the middle of the middle. Two 3D pale orbs are near the bottom-center of the piece.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

A blue-green flat object that is rectangle-shaped at the bottom with a smaller pentagon shape at the top. It is shown laying vertically flat on a grey background. It is covered in inlaid turquoise rectangle pieces. The edges have a dark grey-green line with rough texture along them that swirl and curve into the middle of the middle. Two 3D pale orbs are near the bottom-center of the piece.

Gallery Text

Although there is evidence of the minor presence of copper artifacts among several late Neolithic cultures, by the dawn of the second millennium BCE, societies in northern China appear to have begun using bronze (an alloy of copper and tin) in earnest. Excavations at several Longshan culture sites along the middle and lower Yellow River valleys have yielded tools, ornaments, and vessel fragments made of bronze. Longshan black pottery vessels with design elements reminiscent of hammered metal also imply the influence of metalwork during the latter part of this otherwise Neolithic culture. Following closely after the Longshan period, Erlitou culture sites in Henan and Shanxi provinces reveal a complex, hierarchical society that produced bronze tools, weapons, vessels, and turquoise-inlaid plaques (such as those displayed here) of astonishing sophistication. The presence of such artifacts, along with the remains of bronze-casting molds at Erlitou, confirms that China had fully entered its Bronze Age by the second millennium BCE.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.52.46
Title
Turquoise-Inlaid Plaque with Stylized Animal-Mask Decoration and Elongated Extension
Classification
Plaques
Work Type
plaque
Date
1900 - 1500 BCE
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period
Erlitou culture, c. 1900-1500 BCE
Culture
Chinese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/204639

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
Bronze with turquoise inlay
Dimensions
H. 26.6 x W. 12.2 x Thickness 0.4 cm (10 1/2 x 4 13/16 x 3/16 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Grenville L. Winthrop, New York (by 1943), bequest; to Fogg Art Museum, 1943.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.52.46
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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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

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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