A RARE BRONZE AXE-HEAD

Details

A RARE BRONZE AXE-HEAD
WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY

The beveled outer edge of the blade forming a continuous curve terminating in volutes at either tip, cast in shallow relief on both sides with a design of conforming outline coming to a point in the center below a central aperture with raised collar, all below two wings of unequal length extending to either side, the longer wing pierced with a rectangular aperture, and the tang pierced with a square aperture positioned below an intaglio panel filled with the profile of a dragon, the satiny, mottled gray patina with green encrustation, restored--7 1/4 in. (18.4cm.) long

Lot Essay

Compare the drawing of an almost identical axe in the Royal Ontario Musuem, Toronto, illustrated by Max Loehr, Chinese Bronze Age Weapons, 1956, fig. 26 and by Umehara, Shina Kodo Seikwa, pt. III, vol. II, pl. 96. Loehr describes this shape as very scarce