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A long, flat carved jade blade with short angled sides

Light tan jade with burnt caramel colored markings and striations running through it has been carved into a long rectangle with the short sides slightly angled. One long edge has been beveled thinner while the side opposite has been left thicker, as can be seen through two small circular holes that have been cut in it at either end. At one end, below one of the holes, a third small hole is cut, slightly closer to the outside edge.

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
1943.50.50
Title
Trapezoidal Jade Knife
Classification
Ritual Implements
Work Type
knife
Date
Neolithic or Shang period, c. 2000 - c. 1600 BCE
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period
Neolithic period to Shang dynasty
Culture
Chinese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/205278

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
Light brown, highly translucent stone with dark brown markings
Dimensions
H. 42.2 x W. 6 x Thickness 0.8 cm (16 5/8 x 2 3/8 x 5/16 in.)
Weight 428 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. 218 by Max Loehr:

218 Trapezoidal Knife
Light brown, highly translucent stone with dark brown markings. The blade has a straight back and cutting edge. Along the back are two strongly conical holes, set far apart. A hole of the same kind and size was drilled from the reverse side along the median axis, just beyond the hole to the left. The faces slope gradually to the cutting edge without being beveled. On both sides of the blade remain scars of a rotating or swinging saw. Western Chou(?).

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.50.50
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. 218, pp. 168-169

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