A CELADON JADE GE-HALBERD BLADE

LATE SHANG DYNASTY, 12TH-11TH CENTURY BC

Details

A CELADON JADE GE-HALBERD BLADE
LATE SHANG DYNASTY, 12TH-11TH CENTURY BC
The jade is thinly carved with a long blade with a median ridge and bevelled edges on one side tapering asymmetrically to a tip, with a hole pierced below the narrower tang which flares to the diagonal butt edge.
13 ½ in. (34.1 cm.) long, box

Provenance

Lantien Shanfang Collection, acquired in Taipei in 1990

Lot Essay

Long jade ge-halberd blades such as the present lot were made during the Shang dynasty, and their length points to a ceremonial rather than practical use. Compare to a longer jade ge-halberd blade (48.9 cm.) similarly carved with an asymmetric blade and a diagonal butt edge in the present sale, see lot 2708, which was included in the 1999 Collector’s Exhibition of Archaic Chinese Jades held at the National Palace Museum, Taipei, see Catalogue, p. 135, no. 58.

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