A jade handle that is long and slender in shape. Along the side are relief lines that outline a small foot at the bottom, a round foot or hand in the middle, and the profile of a face at the top with a sharp jaw, a large round ear, a large nostril, and a
proper left profile Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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proper left profile Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

The jade handle is long and slender in shape. The piece is off-white on a grey background and is shown laying flat vertically. Along the side are relief lines that outline a small foot at the bottom, a round foot or hand in the middle. At the top and facing the left is the profile of a face with a sharp jaw, a large round ear, a large nostril, and a hole for the eye. The top has a square shape with deep-cut lines along it.

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
1943.50.320
Title
Anthropomorphic Jade Handle
Classification
Ritual Implements
Work Type
handle
Date
16th-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/204795

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
Creamy white, translucent nephrite
Dimensions
L. 8.2 x Diam. 1 cm (3 1/4 x 3/8 in.)
Weight 10 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. 122 by Max Loehr:

122 Anthropomorphic Handle
Creamy white, translucent nephrite handle, irregularly rectangular in cross-section. The thickness of the handle tapers off toward a wedge-shaped projection at the lower end. The upper portion is given the shape of a human being more or less in the round, while the legs and feet are indicated in low relief and visible only in side view. The long and slender head is covered with a kind of turban, built up of three fluted zones with a broad knot at the back. The face is characterized by deeply drilled, round eye-holes; an enormously broad nose; large, flat ears; a wide, slit mouth and a long, sharply protruding chin. The hands are held to the stomach; lower down is a pair of slightly relieved, flattish oval forms, possibly intended to define the sex. Probably Shang.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.50.320
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 (Cambridge, MA, Fogg Art Museum, 1975)., cat. no. 122, p. 112
  • 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), pp. 162, 164, fig. 2

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