拍品專文
Knives of this type have been excavated from sites in Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Hebei provinces, as well as the Shang capital at Anyang in Henan province. While these knives would have been used for hunting, more elaborate examples with zoomorphic handles, like the present piece, may also have signified rank, or possibly affiliation to a particular tribe or clan.
A similar bronze knife with an ibex-head pommel is illustrated by E. Bunker in Ancient Bronzes of the Eastern Eurasian Steppes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, New York, 1997, p. 121, no. 6. Similar examples are illustrated by Yang Xiaoneng in Sculpture of Xia & Shang China, Beijing, 1988, p. 196, pl. 191, and by B. Watson, Ancient Chinese Bronzes, London, 1962, pl. 83a. Another example, formerly from the collection of Captain Dugald Malcolm, C.M.G., C.V.O., T.D., was sold at Sotheby's London, 29 March 1977, lot 25, which refers to the Falk example in the footnote.
A similar bronze knife with an ibex-head pommel is illustrated by E. Bunker in Ancient Bronzes of the Eastern Eurasian Steppes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, New York, 1997, p. 121, no. 6. Similar examples are illustrated by Yang Xiaoneng in Sculpture of Xia & Shang China, Beijing, 1988, p. 196, pl. 191, and by B. Watson, Ancient Chinese Bronzes, London, 1962, pl. 83a. Another example, formerly from the collection of Captain Dugald Malcolm, C.M.G., C.V.O., T.D., was sold at Sotheby's London, 29 March 1977, lot 25, which refers to the Falk example in the footnote.