A RARE BRONZE LONG KNIFE WITH GOLD-INLAID RING HANDLE

HAN DYNASTY

Details

A RARE BRONZE LONG KNIFE WITH GOLD-INLAID RING HANDLE
Han Dynasty
The oval ring at one end inlaid in gold with scroll motifs and the tapered end of the otherwise plain wedge-shaped hilt with similarly inlaid bands on the sides and top, the long, slender blade also of wedge shape as it thins towards the beveled cutting edge and tapers to a curved tip, the hilt with green encrustation that shows in its markings that the hilt was diagonally wrapped, with some encrustation on the blade
32in. (81.3cm.) long, fitted wood box

Lot Essay

A fragment of a knife handle with a similarly shaped ring or terminal in undecorated gilt bronze, dated Eastern Zhou dynasty, 6th-5th Century B.C., is in the collection of Pierre Uldry and illustrated in the Catalogue, Chinesisches Gold und Silber, Museum Rietberg, Zurich, 1991, p. 69, no. 6. Compare, also, a long knife of this shape with a similarly shaped terminal dated to Eastern Han, illustrated by Cheng Dong and Zhong Shao-yi, Zhongguo Gudai Binqi Tuji (Ancient Chinese Weapons - A Collection of Pictures), 1990, p. 140, fig. 6-42 and a rubbing depicting a figure holding such a knife, p. 141, fig. 6-47