LATE SHANG DYNASTY, 12TH-11TH CENTURY BC

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.