A rare turquoise-inlaid bronze 'dragon' dagger-axe, ge, Late Shang dynasty | 商末 青銅嵌綠松石曲內岐冠式龍紋戈

Samuel Wong, Hong Kong.

Eskenazi Ltd, London.

黃言信，香港

埃斯卡納齊，倫敦

Archaeologists have traced the first implementation of inlays in China back to the middle Neolithic period, when bone was the most often used inlay material. Turquoise inlay was extremely rare and only became popular towards the late Neolithic era, and reached an incredible level of intricacy and astonishing sophistication during the Shang dynasty. The Shang even refined the making practices of ritual blades, fashioning ceremonial weapons and implements of even greater sophistication than their predecessors, by incorporating turquoise inlay on bronze surfaces and expanding the artistic repertoire into representational shapes of humans and animals, signalling the high social status of the owner. Since turquoise nodules usually only occur between other stones, they rarely appear as large pieces; hence, they were frequently incorporated into mosaics, enhancing the beauty and complexity of ritual bronzes through their own striking vivid colour and distinctive texture. 

It is exceptionally rare to find Shang weapons cast with protruding 'horns' as seen on the present piece; the closest match is a much larger example (fig. 1, 41 cm) in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., accession no. F1950.9. A small number of Shang dynasty weapons with this distinctive feature are also known. Compare a four-part turquoise-inlaid ceremonial sickle and a bronze dagger-axe with a writhing dragon on the haft, also in the Freer Gallery, accession nos F1940.10a-e and F1953.62; and a dagger-axe from the Arthur M. Sackler Collection, sold at Christie's New York, 18th March 2009, lot 233.

Compare also two related turquoise-inlaid dagger-axes, with similar treatment and design on the blade but a relatively simpler and flat hafting bar, again in the Freer Gallery, accession nos F1939.39 and F1939.40.