SHANG DYNASTY, CIRCA 1200 BC

Details

A FINE GREYISH-GREEN JADE BLADE, GE
SHANG DYNASTY, CIRCA 1200 BC
With a median ridge extending the length of the blade, well worked on either side with four facets, the plain area above pierced with two holes, and the tang well carved with three parallel double ribs and a single rib, extending from two parallel lines to the notched edge, the softly polished stone of an attractive even greyish-green tone with darker and lighter striations
11 3/8 in. (29 cm.) long, box

Provenance

Baron and Baroness von Oertzen Collection

Literature

S. Howard Hansford, Jade - Essence of Hills and Streams, Johannesburg, 1969, no. A42, p. 45

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 15% on the buyer's premium

Lot Essay

Jade ge of this type are based on bronze examples that are seen as early as the Erlitou period. See the drawing of a bronze ge from Henan Yanshi Erlitou, c. 1900-1600 BC, illustrated by J. Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, British Museum, 1995, p. 192, fig. 2. In the drawing one can see that the butt has a band of parallel raised lines below four projecting parallel sections edged with ridges. These features were then translated into the carved decoration of some jade ge, such as one in the British Museum, illustrated ibid., p. 193, fig. 3, and the present example. A larger example of similar material was sold in our New York Rooms, 19 March 2008, lot 478.

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