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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.50.32
Title
Heavy Trapezoidal Jade Knife with a Cutout
Classification
Ritual Implements
Work Type
knife
Date
c. 2500 BCE - c. 2000 BCE
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period
Neolithic period, Longshan culture, c. 3000-1900 BCE
Culture
Chinese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/205200

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Bluish gray-green stone with dark gray veins and a few buff areas
Dimensions
59.5 x 10.4 x 0.9 cm (23 7/16 x 4 1/8 x 3/8 in.)
unspecified: 1230 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. 212 by Max Loehr:

212 Heavy Trapezoidal Knife with a Cutout
Bluish gray-green stone with dark gray veins and a few buff areas. Along the straight back is a row of four equidistant conical holes, drilled from the upper side, their lower edges left rough and unfinished. A fifth hole, drilled from the same side, is placed along the median axis farther to the right. Above this hole, the back shows a curved cutout similar to that in No. 211. The cutting edge is beveled on both sides and is blunt. Near the left tip, the edge cuts through a small perforation, which must have existed before the edge was fashioned. The upper left corner, which slants, remains in a raw state. 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
1943.50.32
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Dr. Minao Hayashi, "Chugoku kodai saigyoku zuigyoku (Ceremonial jade in ancient China)", Toho Gakuho (March 1969), no. 40, pl. 56: 4
  • 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. 212, p. 166
  • Jenny So, Early Chinese Jades in the Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2019), cat. no. 6C, pp. 88-91

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