SHANG DYNASTY, 13TH-12TH CENTURY BC

The functional blade-type most commonly encountered among Shang jades is the ge dagger-axe. A pole weapon, the ge comprised a jade blade attached perpendicularly to a wooden shaft, the blade’s tang likely fitted through a slot at the end of the shaft, and the blade secured to the pole with a thong looped through the circular opening at the base of the tang. Although the ge-blade type doubtless originated in stone during Neolithic times, by the Shang dynasty the style of such blades derived from bronze examples that are seen as early as the Erlitou period. See the drawing of a bronze ge from Henan Yanshi Erlitou, c. 1900-1600 BC, illustrated by J. Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, British Museum, 1995, p. 192, fig. 2.

The larger ge, with its elegant, slightly curved blade, carefully defined median ridge, and soft, satiny polish, can be compared with a jade blade illustrated in Tomb of Lady Hao at Yinxu in Anyang, Beijing, 1980, pl. 108, no. 2.

For other late Shang ge-form jade pendants, see the three included in the sale Fine Chinese Art from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections; Christie’s New York, 18 March 2009, lot 281, which range in size from 6.7 to 7.6 cm.