SHANG PERIOD (1600-1100 BC)

Details

A VERY RARE JADE BLADE WITH TURQUOISE-INLAID BRONZE SHAFT, GE
SHANG PERIOD (1600-1100 BC)
With a median ridge along the length of the blade, well worked on either side with four facets, drilled with one fastening hole, the bronze mount decorated with a stylised ram's head on either side and inlaid with turquoise, the jade of greyish-green tone with opaque white alteration showing markings of straw matt wrapping
9 1/8 in. (23 cm.) long, box

Provenance

Baron and Baroness von Oertzen Collection

Literature

S. Howard Hansford, Jade - Essence of Hills and Streams, Johannesburg, 1969, no. A38, p. 42

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 15% on the buyer's premium

Lot Essay

Compare two examples from the Winthrop collection, illustrated by Loehr in Ancient Chinese Jades, Harvard University, Massachussets, 1975, nos. 73 and 74, p. 76, which have similarly shaped jade dagger mounted on turquoise-inlaid bronze shaft. The jade blades of the Winthrop examples, however, are not drilled, and there is an extra bronze section between the end of the blade to the hand guard. It is possible that on the current piece this section was damaged, as there are signs of restoration at the join of the jade blade and the shaft. Compare also a jade blade excavated from the tomb of Lady Fuhao (fig. 1), with very similar proportion to the present jade dagger and the blade drilled with a large hole.

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