1943.50.29: Heavy Trapezoidal Jade Knife
Ritual ImplementsDark green jade is carved into a long narrow horizontal shape, flat on the top, angled slightly outward at one side, and curving inward slightly along the bottom. The bottom has been beveled to a sharp edge while most of the blade is left thicker. Near the top edge are three holes, one at the center, and one each at either side, evenly spaced, at the midpoint between the center and the edge. A fourth hole is further down and closer to one side. Just above the hole, a diagonal striation in the jade runs across that corner.
Gallery Text
In Neolithic China, nephrite and other beautiful stones were fashioned into nonfunctional ceremonial blades and ritual implements that were buried in the graves of important people. Many of the same types of jades, such as the diskshaped ritual implement known as a bi, were used during subsequent periods as well.
Identification and Creation
- Object Number
- 1943.50.29
- Title
- Heavy Trapezoidal Jade Knife
- Classification
- Ritual Implements
- Work Type
- knife
- Date
- Longshan or Erlitou culture, c. 2000 - c. 1700 BCE
- Places
- Creation Place: East Asia, China
- Period
- Neolithic period
- Culture
- Chinese
- Persistent Link
- https://hvrd.art/o/205166
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
- Black nephrite with very faint markings
- Dimensions
-
L. 51.4 x W. 7.8 x Thickness 0.9 cm (20 1/4 x 3 1/16 x 3/8 in.)
Weight 741 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. 208 by Max Loehr:
208 Heavy Trapezoidal Knife
Black stone, with only the faintest markings. The blade has a straight back and rounded lateral edges, which slant at different angles. The cutting edge was sharpened by being beveled from both sides. Three equidistant conical holes are aligned along the back, all of them drilled from the upper side. A smaller suspension hole, drilled from the reverse side, is near the right end; a fracture runs diagonally across this end. Western Chou(?).
Acquisition and Rights
- Credit Line
- Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
- Accession Year
- 1943
- Object Number
- 1943.50.29
- 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. 208, p. 163
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
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