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A long, flat blade carved of mottled green jade

Carved from mottled green jade with dark flecks and irregular darker green areas, the blade is a long horizontal shape. The top side is flat, while the sides angle outward slightly, with one side wider than the other. The curved bottom side has been beveled to a sharp edge while the rest of the blade has been left thicker. Along the top side, four small perfectly circular holes have been cut at equally spaced intervals. The surface is polished to a satin sheen.

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
1943.50.31
Title
Large Jade Trapezoidal Knife with Dentations
Classification
Ritual Implements
Work Type
knife
Date
c. 2500- 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/205261

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
Dark gray-green stone with black areas and light markings
Dimensions
W. 11.2 x L. 61 x Thickness 0.7 cm (4 7/16 x 24 x 1/4 in.)
Weight 926 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. 210 by Max Loehr:

210 Large Trapezoidal Knife with Dentations
Dark gray-green stone with black areas and light markings. The back is straight, but slants irregularly near the right edge, which has rounded corners. The faces slope down to a concave, blunt cutting edge. The left edge of this large tool is decorated with symmetrically carved pairs of transversally grooved teeth, projecting from two low ridges which are divided by a notch. Parallel to the back is a row of four conical perforations of the same size and drilled from the same side. On the reverse side is an elliptical depression, indicating a flaw in the original slab. Shang or Western Chou(?).

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.50.31
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. 011, pp. 12-13, repr.
  • 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. 210, p. 164

Exhibition History

  • 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