EASTERN ZHOU PERIOD, EARLY 4TH CENTURY BC

Details

A BRONZE SPEARHEAD, MAO
Eastern Zhou period, Early 4th century BC
The blade of broad and tapering form, the median ridge running from the tang to the tip with bevelled edges on either side, the socket with a rectangular aperture in the centre and with a small mythical animal depicted next to it, finely decorated in silver with a double-lined diamond diaper pattern, rim nicks
10½ in. (26.6 cm.) long

Provenance

Dr Franco Vannotti, Lugano, B38
J-P. Dubosc, Paris
Eskenazi Ltd., London

Literature

Published:
W. Speiser, Ostasiatische Kunst und Chinoiserie, Cologne, 1953, no. 69
J-P. Dubosc, Chinese Art, Venice, 1954, no. 65
O. Karlbeck, Selected Objects from Ancient Shou-chou, B.M.F.E.A., volume 27, Stockholm, 1955, page 50, where it is discussed.

Exhibited

Cologne, 1953, Staatenhaus
Venezia, 1954, no. 65

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.

Lot Essay

A similar example decorated with a diaper pattern was included in the 'Exhibition of the Bronze Weaponry in the C.H. Wang Collection', 1995, Catalogue, no. 18.

This type of decoration is found in various forms on weapons of the period. The actual technique by which the decoration was achieved is still something of a mystery. Cf. W.T. Chase and U. M. Franklin, 'Early Chinese Black Mirrors and Pattern-Etched Weapons', Ars Orientalis, volume XI, Washington, 1979, pages 215-258.

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