Jade Human Face | Harvard Art Museums

Identification and Creation

Object Number: 1943.50.328
Title: Jade Human Face
Classification: Ritual Implements
Work Type: figurine
Date: 12th cent. BCE - 11th cent. BCE
Places: Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period: Shang dynasty, c. 1600-c. 1050 BCE
Culture: Chinese
Persistent Link: https://hvrd.art/o/204814

Physical Descriptions

Medium: Slightly calcified, bone-colored nephrite
Dimensions: 3.3 x 2.8 cm (1 5/16 x 1 1/8 in.)
unspecified: 15 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. 120 by Max Loehr:

120 Human Face
Convex piece of slightly calcified, bone-colored jade, The back is plain, while the front is fashioned into an angular, square-jawed face with neatly incised eyes and a sharp-ridged nose and nostrils in relief. The lips, too, are relieved. Both sides are reticulated, and there are grooves in the center of the low forehead and in the recessed neck. The face compares well with that of No. 119, except that it is not flat. Probably Shang.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

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

Accession Year

1943

Object Number

1943.50.328

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. 120, 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Inquiry" (thesis (certificate in conservation), Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, March 1990), Unpublished, pp. 1-110 passim

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

Your Collection

Log in to the Harvard Art Museums