A huge and rare green jade blade, Late Neolithic period - early Bronze Age, circa 2000 BC | 新石器時代晚期至青銅器時代早期 約公元前兩千年 青玉刀

Impressive in size, the present jade blade is a typical work of the Neolithic jade-working centre, located in the North-western regions of modern-day Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, active c. 200-1800 BC. Unlike jade blades made in the northeastern and southeastern centres, this community focused on the production of large, undecorated blades such as exes and knives. Although the exact function of such large blades is not fully understood, their shapes were mostly derived from functional hard stone implements, suggesting the jade counterparts may carry ritual and ceremonial significance. 

See a large blade, measuring 77 by 32.5 by 1.0 cm, currently in the Shaanxi History Museum, Xi’an, which displays a similar profile with three holes along the top edge and two at the straight edge, illustrated in Jenny F. So, op.cit., p. 57, fig. 6.1.

此件玉刀器型碩大，長度近半米，令人震撼。此類大型玉刀為西北部陝西和甘肅省地區新石器時代玉器的典型作品，約西元前 2000 至前 1800 年製作。與東北部和東南部的新時期時代玉刀不同，此地區常見器型碩大的光素的玉斧和玉刀。這類大型刃器的確切功能尚未有最終定論，然其形製主要還是模仿具有功能性石器，而以玉石製作則可能是祭祀所用的禮器。

參見西安陝西歷史博物館所藏的一件大型玉刀，尺寸為 77x32.5x1.0 釐米，與本拍品類似，其邊沿上緣有三孔，直緣有兩孔，見蘇芳淑教授，前引書，頁 57，圖 6.1。