Fragment of a Trapezoidal Jade Knife

Identification and Creation

Object Number: 1943.50.28
Title: Fragment of a Trapezoidal Jade Knife
Classification: Ritual Implements
Work Type: knife
Date: c. 2500 BCE - c. 1900 BCE
Places: Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period: Neolithic period
Culture: Chinese
Persistent Link: https://hvrd.art/o/205138

Physical Descriptions

Medium: Bluish gray-green stone with black and light brown markings
Dimensions: 50 x 9.1 x 0.9 cm (19 11/16 x 3 9/16 x 3/8 in.)
unspecified: 648 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. 214 by Max Loehr:

214 Fragment of a Trapezoidal Knife
Bluish gray-green stone with black and light brown markings. The blade, which is broken at the left end, has an irregularly curved back, a straight cutting edge, and an incompletely shaped right end. Three rather small conical holes along the back are drilled from the upper face; a fourth hole, also drilled from the upper face, is placed along the median axis to the left of the one farthest right. The bevels of the cutting edge begin with a sharply marked ledge, comparable to the bevels on No. 209. On the whole, this tool has a rather crude and unfinished appearance about it. Its material is the same, however, as in the exquisitely shaped shafted axe, No. 195, and the knife, No. 212. Early Western Chou(?).

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

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

Accession Year

1943

Object Number

1943.50.28

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, Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1975), cat. no. 214, p. 167

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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