Page 74 - JJ Lally Ancient Chinese Jades, 1988

56. An Archaic Jade Ceremonial Jade Dagger - Axe ( Ge )
Early Shang Dynasty, circa 15th Century B.C.
the sturdy blade with straight cutting edge on one side opposite a gently curving edge, beveled on
both sides of both edges, the short sharp point set slightly askew with a shallow medial ridge rising
from the point and dissolving into the flat center of the blade, pierced with a central aperture at the
base of the squared tang marked by a pair of small teeth projecting at either side, the butt end left
rough on one side, the grayish green stone with darker mottling.
Length 11¼ inches (28.5 cm)

Compare the similar Shang dynasty jade ge unearthed from the Eastern Zhou cemetery at Liangdaicun, Hancheng, Shaanxi
province, illustrated in Yuhui Jinsha: Xia Shang shiqi yu wenhua tezhan (A Convergence of Jade at Jinsha: Special Exhibition of
the Jade Culture of the Xia and Shang Periods), Chengdu, 2017, p. 89. Another similar Shang dynasty jade ge excavated from
ritual pit no. 2 at Sanxingdui, Guanghan, Sichuan province, is illustrated by Gu (ed.), Zhongguo chutu yuqi quanji (Complete
Collection of Jades Unearthed in China), Vol. 13, Sichuan, Chongqing, Beijing, 2005, p. 33.
Shang jade dagger-axes were made for ceremonial use, but in form they were modelled after functional bronze weapons.
For a comprehensive discussion of this form of jade blade as it evolved throughout the Shang dynasty, see Wilson, “Lithic
Art in the Bronze Age: A Jade Dagger-Axe,” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, January 1990, vol. 77, no. 1, where
the author illustrates on p. 12 fig. 15 a bronze dagger-axe of closely related form, unearthed at Xinzheng, Henan province,
described as Erligang period.

ਠϘಂc͗ˑcڗ 28.5᩶Ϸ

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