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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.50.130
Title
Small, Heavy Jade Axe
Classification
Ritual Implements
Work Type
axe
Date
c. 2000 BCE - c. 1000 BCE
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period
Neolithic period to Shang dynasty
Culture
Chinese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/205196

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Fine-grained, smoothly polished, variegated light and dark brown nephrite
Dimensions
11 x 6.5 x 1.4 cm (4 5/16 x 2 9/16 x 9/16 in.)
unspecified: 221 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. 14 by Max Loehr:

14 Small, Heavy Axe
Fine grained, smoothly polished, variegated light and dark brown stone. Both surfaces are flat; the sides, like the blunted cutting edge, are symmetrically beveled. The butt slants asymmetrically; a small conical perforation is placed off the median. Below the perforation, across both surfaces, run three horizontal grooves. Shang(?).

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.50.130
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. 14, p. 46

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