Heavy Jade Statuette of a Bearded Old Man

Identification and Creation

Object Number: 1943.50.316
Title: Heavy Jade Statuette of a Bearded Old Man
Classification: Ritual Implements
Work Type: figurine
Date: 206 BCE - 220 CE (?)
Places: Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period: Han dynasty, 206 BCE-220 CE
Culture: Chinese
Persistent Link: https://hvrd.art/o/204808

Physical Descriptions

Medium: Mottled green and russet, faintly translucent stone
Dimensions: 9.1 x 3.8 x 2.7 cm (3 9/16 x 1 1/2 x 1 1/16 in.)
unspecified: 143 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. 552 by Max Loehr:

552 Heavy Statuette of a Bearded Old Man
Mottled green and russet, faintly translucent stone. The figure has the cross-section of a quadrant and thus appears to have been made from a cylindrical block., the outside of which is the back of this figure. Its proportions differ greatly from the preceding pair, as the point of the beard comes down below the middle of the body. The verticality of the figure is interrupted only by a groove beneath the sleeves. The tips of the man’s shoes are indicated by two incised, concentric semicircles. A longitudinal perforation beginning at the top extends part way through the figure where it meets with two secondary holes drilled upwards from underneath each sleeve. Han or later.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

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

Accession Year

1943

Object Number

1943.50.316

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, Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1975), cat. no. 552, p. 384

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

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