LATE SHANG DYNASTY, ANYANG, 12TH-11TH CENTURY BC

Two similar axes (yue) of this type, illustrated by M. Loehr, Chinese Bronze Age Weapons, The University of Michigan, 1956, pls. III and IV, nos. 4 and 5, have similar jawed masks at the top of the blade and taotie masks on the tang, which would have been inlaid with turquoise. Another is illustrated by B. Karlgren, "New Bronzes in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities", BMFEA 24, 1952, pl. 4 (a & b). See, also, the example illustrated in Yinxu Fu Hao mu, Beijing, 1980, pl. LXIX (1), and p. 106, fig. 66 (2).