AN OPAQUE JADE GE-HALBERD BLADE

SHANG DYNASTY, CIRCA 1400-1200 BC

Details

AN OPAQUE JADE GE-HALBERD BLADE
SHANG DYNASTY, CIRCA 1400-1200 BC
The long blade with a median ridge extending on both sides and beveled edges continuing to where the blade begins to taper to the point, with four bands of incised lines on both sides below a single hole drilled through the tang, the stone now altered and of mottled pale and darker creamy sand color, with satin-like polish
12¼ in. (31.1 cm.) long

Provenance

Chang Nai-chi Collection.
J.T. Tai & Company, New York.

Exhibited

Archaic Chinese Jades, The University Museum, Philadelphia, February 1940, pl. IV, no. 58.

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Lot Essay

This ge-halberd blade is quite similar in shape and length to one excavated from the late Shang dynasty tomb of Fu Hao at Anyang, Henan province, illustrated in Yinxu Yuqi (The Jades from Yinxu), Beijing, 1982, pl. 18 (bottom), although the jade of the present blade has altered completely from its original color.

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