AN IMPERIAL BAMBOO VENEER AND BONE KNIFE AND SHEATH

18TH/19TH CENTURY

細節
AN IMPERIAL BAMBOO VENEER AND BONE KNIFE AND SHEATH
18TH/19TH CENTURY
The two-color bamboo veneer sheath and handle decorated in relief with archaistic scrolls, with bone blade and mounts, including a small rectangular strip on the sheath with gilt-metal boss that forms the handle of a slender removable scraper that slips into an opening in the sheath
12 11/16 in. (32.2 cm.) long, box

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拍品專文

The sheath and handle of this knife are executed in a technique known as zhuhuang (literally, 'bamboo yellow', but meaning bamboo veneer). The technique involved stripping the interior surface of the bamboo cortex, soaking it and pressing it flat, and then applying it as a veneer to the base material of the object. A second layer was then carved and superimposed over the first layer. It was time-consuming and took extraordinary skill accounting for the relative rarity of pieces executed in this technique. For a knife and sheath of similar type described as a knife for cutting paper see The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - Small Refined Articles of the Study, Shanghai, 2009, no. 171.