1943.50.317: Jade Figure of a Kneeling Man
Ritual ImplementsThe jade figure is of a stout, round man kneeling and sitting upright and facing the left. The figure is overall very soft, round, and smooth in shape and off-white in color on a grey background. His hands are placed on his lap and his head is large and round. There are engraved lines on the figure to show fingers and details of the face. There is a small line for his mouth, a large, round nose, small eyes, lines for eyebrows, and a flat bald head.
Gallery Text
The Shang refined Neolithic jade-making practices, fashioning ritual blades and implements of even greater sophistication than those of their predecessors, incorporating jade blades into turquoise-inlaid bronze hafts, and expanding their jade repertoire into representational shapes of humans and animals.
Identification and Creation
- Object Number
- 1943.50.317
- Title
- Jade Figure of a Kneeling Man
- Classification
- Ritual Implements
- Work Type
- figurine
- Date
- 12th-11th century BCE
- Places
- Creation Place: East Asia, China
- Period
- Shang dynasty, c. 1600-c. 1050 BCE
- Culture
- Chinese
- Persistent Link
- https://hvrd.art/o/204794
Location
- Location
-
Level 1, Room 1740, Early Chinese Art, Arts of Ancient China from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age
Physical Descriptions
- Medium
- Calcified, bone-colored nephrite
- Dimensions
-
H. 4.3 x W. 2.8 cm (1 11/16 x 1 1/8 in.)
Weight 54 g
Provenance
- Recorded Ownership History
- Grenville L. Winthrop, New York (by 1943), bequest; to Fogg Art Museum, 1943.
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. 121 by Max Loehr:
121 Figure of a Kneeling Man
Full-round, dwarfish figure in a kneeling posture, summarily fashioned of bone-colored, calcified jade. The large face shows a very low forehead; slightly relieved striated eyebrows; eyes which are shaped like human eyes; a broad nose; and a pouting, thin-lipped mouth. As in a preceding figurines, the hands meet in front. The modeling of the legs consists simply of a groove running around from behind one knee to the other. The base is squarish. Probably Shang.
Acquisition and Rights
- Credit Line
- Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
- Accession Year
- 1943
- Object Number
- 1943.50.317
- 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 (Cambridge, MA, Fogg Art Museum, 1975)., cat. no. 121, p. 111
- Meryl Faith Cohen, "Ancient Chinese Jade Figures in the Winthrop Collection: An Anthropological Inquiry" (thesis (certificate in conservation), Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, March 1990), Unpublished, pp. 1-110 passim
- Jenny So, Early Chinese Jades in the Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2019), p. 164, fig. 3
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
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