WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 9TH-8TH CENTURY BC

A ge-halberd blade of this shape dated late Shang or Western Zhou, but of longer length (48.5 cm.) in the Winthrop Collection is illustrated by M. Loehr, Ancient Chinese Jades, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, 1975, p. 66, no. 52. As with the present blade the jade is opaque.

This ge retains an unusual amount of cinnabar which would have been sprinkled in the tomb as a preservative before it was sealed.