THREE JADE BLADES

2ND MILLENIUM BC

Details

THREE JADE BLADES
2ND MILLENIUM BC
One of pale grey-green color with black manganese oxide inclusions, cut down from a larger blade, with a beveled edge on the long curved side, the reduced end slightly beveled, with two conical holes, satiny polish; one an axe (yue) of trapezoidal form, now opaque and of warm ivory color, one end slightly beveled on one side, with large biconical hole; the third thin and probably cut down from a larger dao, of soft, dark olive color, one end slightly beveled on both sides, with two conical holes; together with a dagger, with semi-translucent mottled grey jade blade carved at one end with a ruyi head, the shaped metal mount chased with lotus scroll on a ring matte ground
6 5/8, 6, 9 1/8 and 8¼ in. (16.7, 15.1, 23.2 and 21 cm.) long (4)

Provenance

Dagger with metal mount: Chang Nai-chi, Shanghai.
Acquired prior to 1966.
Three blades: A.W. Bahr Collection, Weybridge, 1963.

Exhibited

Dagger with metal mount: International Exhibition of Chinese Art, 1935-36, Royal Academy of Arts, London, no. 686, as Tang, collection of Chang Nai-chi, Shanghai.

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Lot Essay

The unusual type of jade seen in the first blade is similar to that of a related blade ascribed to the Qijia culture, excavated from the Zongri site, Tongde, Qinghai province, illustrated by Gu Fang, The Complete Collection of Jades Unearthed in China, vol. 15, Beijing, 2005, p. 152.

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