A jade handle that is long and very narrow in shape and white in color. The top edge comes to a simple, geometric shape. There are carved curved lines along the sides. There is a small hole at the bottom of the handle.
front Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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front Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

The jade handle is long and very narrow in shape and white in color. It is shown vertically on a dark grey background. The top edge comes to a simple, geometric shape and there are carved curved lines along the sides that curve up and outward. The bottom edge of the handle is flat and has a small hole at the bottom.

Gallery Text

The Shang refined Neolithic jade-making practices, fashioning ritual blades and implements of even greater sophistication than those of their predecessors, incorporating jade blades into turquoise-inlaid bronze hafts, and expanding their jade repertoire into representational shapes of humans and animals.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.50.129
Title
Slender, Ornate Jade Handle
Classification
Ritual Implements
Work Type
handle
Date
12th-11th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period
Shang dynasty (c. 1600-c. 1050 BCE) to Western Zhou period (c. 1050-771 BCE)
Culture
Chinese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/205229

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
Ivory-colored calcified nephrite
Dimensions
H. 20.2 x W. 1.7 x Thickness 0.7 cm (7 15/16 x 11/16 x 1/4 in.)
Weight 51 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. 114 by Max Loehr:

114 Slender, Ornate Handle
Ivory-colored calcified jade handle of the same type as Nos. 112 and 113, but of unusually slender proportions. Seven tiers of leaves or scales rise up each side. The piece is cut off abruptly at the lower end, where it is perforated. Shang.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.50.129
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

  • Dorothy W. Gillerman, ed., Grenville L. Winthrop: Retrospective for a Collector, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, 1969), no. 020, pp. 18-19, repr.
  • 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. 114, p. 107
  • Jenny So, Early Chinese Jades in the Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2019), pp. 130-32, cat. 14B

Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 1740 Early China I, Harvard Art Museums, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project

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