Page 34 - J.J. Lally Chinese Art CHRISTIE'S March 23 2023 NYC

(line drawing of the current dagger-axe, ji)

The gold-inlaid inscription in bird script may be read as, Wang inscription in bird script reading, ‘Halberd for the use of Maquis
Sun Ming zhi yong ji (ji for the use of Wang Sun Ming). The Yi of Zeng’. The set is illustrated Zeng Hou Yi mu (Tomb of
name Wang Sun Ming is cited in Shang Zhou qingtongqi mingwen Marquis Yi of State Zeng), vols. I-II, Beijing, 1989, p. 267, no. 157
xuan (Selected Bronze Inscriptions from the Shang and Zhou), in. vol. I and pl. XCI in vol. II, and again in Zhongguo qingtongqi
vol. 4, Beijing, 1990, p. 428, footnote no. 1, as being a person quanji: Dong Zhou, IV (Compendium of Chinese Bronzes: Easter
from the state of Chu. Zhou, IV) vol. 10, Beijing, 1998, no. 170, with a description on
p. 58. The set was published again recently by Fan J. Zhang and
According to Zhang Han in “Study on Gold Inlaid Bird Script Jay Xu (eds.) in Phoenix Kingdoms: The Last Splender of China’s
Bronze Ge Daggers Unearthed from Wanrong,” Wenwu, 1962, Bronze Age, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, 2022, p. 155, no. 86,
nos. 4-5, pp. 35-36, this very decorative style of script is first seen where a reconstruction of the weapon is also illustrated. As noted
on bronze weapons made in Southern China during the late Spring by Haicheng Wang in his entry for the set, the three blades were
and Autumn period. “originally mounted perpendicular to the eight-foot-long shaft of
a spear. The one at top has a tang that extends through the shaft…
A set of three bronze daggers, comprised of a ji similar to the The three blades were set in slots cut into the shaft and tied in
present example and two ge, was unearthed in 1978 from the tomb place through slits in their long back edges… To avoid breakage,
of the Marquis Yi of Zeng (c. 433-300 BC) in Leigudun, Suizhou, the shaft was made of a wooden core covered by bamboo strips and
Hubei province, and is now in the Hubei Provincial Museum. Like then wrapped with leather or rattan straps. It was further coated
the present ji, the three daggers are each inlaid in gold with an with lacquer and adorned with a horn fitting at its bottom.”

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