A DARK GREEN JADE SCEPTER AND A RUSSET AND BEIGE JADE AXE

NEOLITHIC PERIOD/SHANG DYNASTY, CIRCA 2000-1000 BC

Details

A DARK GREEN JADE SCEPTER AND A RUSSET AND BEIGE JADE AXE
NEOLITHIC PERIOD/SHANG DYNASTY, CIRCA 2000-1000 BC
The thick rectangular scepter tapering slightly towards the haft which is pierced from one side with a single hole situated between a pair of notched projections, the stone of even, dark moss-green tone; the thin axe also of rectangular shape with small perforation at one end opposite the flared, rounded cutting edge, both long edges with a pair of notched flanges, the stone of mottled reddish-tan and milky beige tone with some darker markings at the extremities
7 7/8 and 4 1/8 in. (19.9 and 10.4 cm.) long, two boxes (2)

Provenance

Scepter: acquired in Hong Kong in the mid-1980s.
Axe: acquired in Washington, DC, in the 1970s.

Lot Essay

A jade axe dated to the Western Zhou period of similar shape and with similar notched flanges was excavated from tomb no. 2 at Baicapo, Lingtai, Gansu province, and is now in the Gansu Provincial Museum. See Gu Fang, The Complete Collection of Jades Unearthed in China, vol. 15, Beijing, 2005, no. 65.

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