A BRONZE DAGGER WITH RATTLE

12TH-11TH CENTURY BC

Details

A BRONZE DAGGER WITH RATTLE
12TH-11TH CENTURY BC
The tapering blade has a raised midrib on each side that extends from the tip through the plain guard, and the curved hilt is cast with a central band of diamond decoration set between horizontal linear borders, all below a small attachment loop and an eight-strap openwork rattle with convex cap. The blackish surface has a smooth polish.
10 ½ in. (26.6 cm.) long

Provenance

The Erwin Harris Collection, Miami, Florida, by 1995.

Literature

J. F. So and E. C. Bunker, Traders and Raiders on China's Northern Frontier, Washington D.C., Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, 1995, p. 100-101, no. 14.

Lot Essay

J. F. So in Traders and Raiders on China’s Northern Frontier, p. 100, notes that a virtually identical dagger was found in Ji Xian, northern Shaanxi province. See, also, the two related daggers, or short swords, with rattle pommels, illustrated by E. C. Bunker et al., Ancient Bronzes of the Eastern Eurasian Steppes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, New York, 1997, pp. 118-19, nos. 3 and 4. Each has similarly cast decoration on the curved hilt and similar plain guard. Although the rattle of no. 3 has only four straps, the bronze has the same smooth, black patina.

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