Page 34 - 2020 Nov 30 Christie's Hong Kong Scholars Art Of China

fig. 1 Line drawing of a Shang jade dagger-axe, ge inscribed with the characters Zuo Ce Wu, fig. 2 Rubbing of the inscription on the ‘Wangfu’
now in the Gansu Qingyang Municipal Museum yi vessel, now in the Shanghai Museum
圖一 甘肅省慶陽市博物館，商代＜乍冊吾＞玉戈 線繪圖 王行恭 圖二 上海博物館典藏的＜王婦匜＞銘文

A RARE INSCRIBED WHITE JADE GE BLADE

Hsiung Yi-Ching

The white jade blade is dated to late Shang period, and is Museum (fig. 1); it is also comparable to several jade dagger-
29.5 cm. long with a 20.5 cm. shaft; the handle is 7.5 cm. axes excavated in 1976 from the tomb of Fuhao in Henan
wide and 9 cm. long. It is opaque white in colour with some province.
light brown inclusions. The blade tapers to a sharp triangle
It is extremely rare to find archaic jades from the late Shang,
with a downward tip, and has a spine and twin knife edges.
Western and Eastern Zhou periods bearing inscriptions.
It has a straight handle with an L-shaped profile at the end.
Notable examples include those excavated in the Guo
There is a circular aperture at the top of the handle between
Kingdom tombs, such as the jade ge inscribed with four
the guard, and incised decoration on the handle consisting
characters xiao chen Xi, the jade cong with the characters xiao
of a band of lozenges flanked by double lines. There is a
chen Tuo jian and the jade cylindrical bead with wang Bai,
vertical four-character inscription Qi hou Mi yong（㠱侯彌
all from the tomb of Guo Zhong excavated in 1990; the
用）in oracle bone script near the top edge before the guard.
jade pendant inscribed wang Bai from the tomb of Meng Ji
The inscription and the decoration are carved with sharp
excavated in the same year; and another jade ge inscribed with
and unlaboured lines. It is polished overall with sophisticated
three characters xiao chen from the tomb of Madame Guo Ji
craftsmanship, and made for ceremonial purposes.
excavated in 1991. There is also the jade ge inscribed with the
This dagger-axe, ge, is closely related to the Shang Dynasty characters Bi gong zuo yu excavated in 1996 from the Warring
jade dagger-axe (fig. 1) inscribed with the characters Zuo Ce States tomb in Tanggonglu, Luoyang, Henan Province. In the
Wu, excavated in Yelin Village in Qingyang county, Gansu Tianjin Municipal Art Museum there are the Shang Dynasty
province, and now in the Gansu Qingyang Municipal jade fragment carved with cyclical-date characters, and the

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