COLLECTION NAME:
The AMICA Library
mediaCollectionId
AMICO~1~1
The AMICA Library
Collection
true
AMICA ID:
CMA_.1953.628
amicoid
CMA_.1953.628
AMICA ID
false
AMICA Library Year:
1998
aly
1998
AMICA Library Year
false
Object Type:
Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects
oty
Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects
Object Type
false
Creator Nationality:
Asian; Far East Asian; Chinese
crc
Asian; Far East Asian; Chinese
Creator Nationality
false
Creator Dates/Places:
China
cdt
China
Creator Dates/Places
false
Creator Name-CRT:
China, Hongshan Culture, Neolithic Period
crt
China, Hongshan Culture, Neolithic Period
Creator Name-CRT
false
Title:
Pendant
otn
Pendant
Title
false
Title Type:
Primary
ott
Primary
Title Type
false
View:
Full View
rid
Full View
View
false
Creation Date:
3000-2000 BC
oct
3000-2000 BC
Creation Date
false
Creation Start Date:
-3000
ocs
-3000
Creation Start Date
false
Creation End Date:
-2000
oce
-2000
Creation End Date
false
Materials and Techniques:
jade (nephrite)
omd
jade (nephrite)
Materials and Techniques
false
Classification Term:
Jade
clt
Jade
Classification Term
false
Classification Term:
Jade
clt
Jade
Classification Term
false
Dimensions:
Overall: 13.2cm
met
Overall: 13.2cm
Dimensions
false
AMICA Contributor:
The Cleveland Museum of Art
oon
The Cleveland Museum of Art
AMICA Contributor
false
Owner Location:
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
oop
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Owner Location
false
ID Number:
1953.628
ooa
1953.628
ID Number
false
Credit Line:
Gift of Severance A. Millikin
ooc
Gift of Severance A. Millikin
Credit Line
false
Rights:
orl
<a href="http://www.clemusart.com/museum/disclaim2.html"target="_new">http://www.clemusart.com/museum/disclaim2.html</a>
Rights
false
Context:
Jade--a material almost synonymous with China--designates a number of different types of beautifully colored stones that are patterned by natural veins. All examples are extremely hard and must be worked not by cutting but through a grinding process in which quartz or garnet sand is used to abrade away unwanted portions of the stone. In light of the rarity of the material and the technical difficulty of shaping it, it is not surprising that jade was reserved for the greatest artistic achievements of antiquity, including precious jewelry and ceremonial objects such as emblematic axes. Startling ongoing excavations in eastern China are, in fact, showing that the affection for the stone is much older than previously thought, predating the Bronze Age to stretch back to prehistoric times. One recently discovered Stone Age culture named Hongshan, located in northeastern China, has yielded jades that provide new insight into an amazing object long owned by the museum. The subject of the work is a seated figurewith a massive, snouted head supporting four rounded horns. It sits, European style, with pendant legs joined at the bottom by a smooth projecting crescent and its arms in its lap. Once thought to be a tuning peg for a Bronze Age musical instrument, thisunusual jade instead resembles sculptural pendants found at Hongshan sites. These newly uncovered jades help prove the purpose of the channel drilled through the shoulders of Cleveland's jade--presumably intended to accommodate a cord--and the function of the object as a pendant. Like other Hongshan jades, this pendant is a simply but naturalistically modeled symmetrical form with smooth swelling surfaces and few linear details. Although few in number, such pendants are important since they represent theearliest surviving examples of representational sculpture in China. Large complex pendants such as this one must have played an important role in Hongshan society. The subject, probably a human figure transformed by a frightful mask rather than an imaginarycreature composed of human and animal elements, suggests that the pendant may have functioned as a shamanistic object used in special rites linking the mortal and spiritual world. Chinese archaeologists have also suggested that larger representationalsculpture may have played a role in ritual ceremonies, too, because they have uncovered fragments of monumental terracotta images in the ruins of Stone Age buildings at Hongshan sites. K.W.
cxd
Jade--a material almost synonymous with China--designates a number of different types of beautifully colored stones that are patterned by natural veins. All examples are extremely hard and must be worked not by cutting but through a grinding process in which quartz or garnet sand is used to abrade away unwanted portions of the stone. In light of the rarity of the material and the technical difficulty of shaping it, it is not surprising that jade was reserved for the greatest artistic achievements of antiquity, including precious jewelry and ceremonial objects such as emblematic axes. Startling ongoing excavations in eastern China are, in fact, showing that the affection for the stone is much older than previously thought, predating the Bronze Age to stretch back to prehistoric times. One recently discovered Stone Age culture named Hongshan, located in northeastern China, has yielded jades that provide new insight into an amazing object long owned by the museum. The subject of the work is a seated figurewith a massive, snouted head supporting four rounded horns. It sits, European style, with pendant legs joined at the bottom by a smooth projecting crescent and its arms in its lap. Once thought to be a tuning peg for a Bronze Age musical instrument, thisunusual jade instead resembles sculptural pendants found at Hongshan sites. These newly uncovered jades help prove the purpose of the channel drilled through the shoulders of Cleveland's jade--presumably intended to accommodate a cord--and the function of the object as a pendant. Like other Hongshan jades, this pendant is a simply but naturalistically modeled symmetrical form with smooth swelling surfaces and few linear details. Although few in number, such pendants are important since they represent theearliest surviving examples of representational sculpture in China. Large complex pendants such as this one must have played an important role in Hongshan society. The subject, probably a human figure transformed by a frightful mask rather than an imaginarycreature composed of human and animal elements, suggests that the pendant may have functioned as a shamanistic object used in special rites linking the mortal and spiritual world. Chinese archaeologists have also suggested that larger representationalsculpture may have played a role in ritual ceremonies, too, because they have uncovered fragments of monumental terracotta images in the ruins of Stone Age buildings at Hongshan sites. K.W.
Context
false
Related Image Identifier Link:
CMA_.1953.628.tif
ril
CMA_.1953.628.tif
Related Image Identifier Link
false