An archaic jade ceremonial blade (Ge), Shang dynasty | 商 玉戈

Sotheby's London, 15th July 1980, lot 202.

倫敦蘇富比1980年7月15日，編號202

Jade ge such as the present piece were based on bronze prototypes, their general shape conforming to that of a simplified pointed tablet. Compare the large number of ceremonial jade ge excavated from the tomb of Fu Hao at Anyang, published in Yinxu Fu Hao mu, Beijing, 1980, col. pls 17.1 and 17.2, and 18.1. Compare Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jade. From the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, pp 192-196. For several other examples of ceremonial daggers of this period, see Max Loehr, Ancient Chinese Jades from the G. L. Winthrop Collection, The Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, 1975, pp 53-74, figs 36-68.

For examples sold at auction, see the Shang jade blade from the J.T. Tai Collection, sold in these rooms, 22nd March 2011, lot 61; and another larger blade from the Robert Youngman Collection, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 3rd April 2019, lot 3401.