Page 40 - 2019 September 12th Christie's New York Chiense Art Masterpieces of Chinese Gold and Silver

MASTERPIECES OF EARLY CHINESE GOLD AND SILVER | 金紫銀青 - 中國早期金銀器粹珍

A properly outftted sword or dagger traditionally was housed in a sheath known as a scabbard, which might be made
of leather, wood, metal, or, in rare cases, lacquered wood, and which generally had protective metal fttings at either
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end. Attached to the bottom end of the scabbard and typically confgured in a U-shape—whether rounded, squared, or
pointed—the chape ofered protection to the scabbard’s lower edges. A sumptuous gold chape of this type presumably
would have been ftted onto a scabbard of leather or possibly of lacquered wood. Given its sixth-to-ffth-century BC
date, this chape likely was associated with a scabbard for a dagger rather than for a sword, though it could have been
associated with either. By the late Warring States and Western Han periods, nephrite jade had become the preferred
material for luxury sword fttings, though ones of gold, silver, and bronze occasionally still appeared. A full complement
of such luxury sword furnishings comprised four components: a jianshou pommel for the end of the handle; a jiange
cross guard at the juncture of handle and blade; a jianwei scabbard mount, which is attached to the scabbard and
which includes a long, narrow, rectangular opening to accommodate a belt, permitting the scabbard to be suspended at
the owner’s waist; and a jianbi chape to protect the lower end of the scabbard.
The excavated example most closely related to the present chape is the gold sheath for a dagger (artefact number
M27:1221) that was recovered in 2004 from Tomb 27 at Liangdaicun near Hancheng, Shaanxi province M27 and that is
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believed to date to the early Spring and Autumn period. With its dagger-housing function and openwork decoration of
interlaced snakes, the excavated sheath reveals a close kinship to the present chape. The sheath, which measures
18.4 cm in length and has a triangular lower end, was found at the waist of the tomb occupant, signaling his high status.
One of 103 tombs and seventeen chariot pits discovered at Liangdaicun and associated with the ancient state of Rui—
one of the Zhou-dynasty vassal states in Shaanxi province during the Western Zhou and Spring and Autumn periods—
Tomb M27 is one of the four tombs in the complex believed to be that of a vassal, which likely accounts for the trove of
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forty-eight gold items discovered in the tomb.
The dagger-and-scabbard set that this rare chape originally graced likely was not carried into battle but served
ceremonially to emblemize the rank, power, and wealth of the owner, whether to his subjects in this world or to the
spirits in the next world. The dagger originally associated with this chape almost certainly had a matching gold hilt with
turquoise inlays and openwork designs of interlaced snakes, often called panhuiwen in Chinese. In fact, with its iron
blade and openwork gold hilt with inset turquoise beads and designs of interlaced snakes, the now-famous Spring and
Autumn-period sword excavated in 1992 from Tomb M2 at Yimen Village, Baoji City, Shaanxi province M2 and today
housed in the Baoji City Institute of Archaeology suggests the possible appearance of the weapon originally associated
with this chape, as does the openwork gold dagger hilt with designs of interlaced dragons in the collection of the
British Museum, London (1937,0416.218) and formerly in that of renowned British collector George Eumorfopoulos
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(1863–1939). (Fig. 1)

根據傳統，裝具齊全的劍通常外套劍鞘，其材質有皮革、木材 2004年山西省韓城梁帶村M27號墓出土一件金刀鞘首（編號
或金屬，漆木之作雖有但極罕， 鞘的首尾兩端一般有金屬護 M27：1221），其斷代為春秋時期。 因其為刀鞘首，其上亦
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套。鞘末所安的鞘首多呈U型，外沿或呈弧狀、方角或攢尖，用 飾蟠虺紋，此出土例與本拍品極爲近似。梁帶村鞘首長18.4公
於保護鞘的底部。像本拍品這一類華美金鞘首，當初應是皮革 分，尾端呈三角形，出土時位於墓主腰部，顯示墓主身份地位
鞘甚或漆木鞘的配件。由於此作的斷代是公元前六至五世紀， 不凡。在梁帶村發現的103個墓葬及171座車馬坑為芮國—西周
所以很可能、是刀鞘首而非劍鞘首，但兩者皆有可能。到了戰 與春秋之間位於陝西的周朝諸侯國—遺址，而M27號墓為其中
國末年與西漢時期，軟玉儼然已是寶劍裝具的理想材質，以玉 四個被斷定為某諸侯墓的一個，其墓主也應為在此墓中發現的
裝飾的劍又稱「玉具劍」，但金、銀及青銅裝具仍時可得見。 48件金器之原主。 3
寶劍的裝具通常一套四件，即劍首 (柄端的圓頭)、劍格 (柄與 本拍品原配的刀與鞘，未必用於實戰，而是裝飾之物，藉此向
刃交界處的護手)、劍璏 (鞘上所附飾件，開一長方形銎穿繫腰 臣民或鬼神展示器物主人的權勢與財富。如無意外，此刀應有
帶，可將劍懸於腰間) 及劍珌 (保護鞘的末梢)。 與金鞘首配對之金柄，柄上亦嵌綠松石和鏤雕蟠虺紋。1992

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