Object: Dagger-axe (ge) inlaid with turquoise F1939.39

Classification: Weapon and Armament

Historical period(s): Shang dynasty, ca. 1600-1050 BCE

Object Date: ca. 1600-1050 BCE

Medium: Bronze and turquoise

Dimension(s): H x W x D: 39.4 x 9.9 x 1 cm (15 1/2 x 3 7/8 x 3/8 in)

Origin: China

Credit Line: Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

Collection: Freer Gallery of Art Collection

Accession Number: F1939.39

Provenance: Reportedly excavated in Anyang, Henan province, China [1]

From at least 1938 to 1939
C. T. Loo & Company, New York from at least December 3, 1938 [2]

From 1939
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from C. T. Loo & Company on July 6, 1939 [3]

Notes:

[1] According to C. T. Loo & Co., An Exhibition of Chinese Bronzes, exh. cat. (New York: C. T. Loo & Co., January 1939), cat. 43, pl. XIX.

[2] See "List of objects owned by C. T. Loo and Company, New York…[and] left by Mr. Loo on December 10, 1938 at the Gallery for examination," with an annotation that the object was taken back by Loo on December 23, 1938, copy in object file; it was returned to the Freer Gallery at the end of next month, see "List of objects owned by C. T. Loo and Co., New York [and left] at the Gallery for examination," with an annotation that the object was brought by Frank Caro on January 31, 1939, copy in object file. See also Loo's stockcard no. 81439: "Two bronze daggers with malachite inlay. Shan-Yin," C. T. Loo & Frank Caro Archive, Musée Guimet, Paris, copy in object file.

[3] See C. T. Loo's invoice, dated July 6, 1939, copy in object file.

Previous owner(s): C.T. Loo & Company (1914-1948)

Curatorial Remarks

1. Purchased from C.T. Loo & Co., New York. For price, see Freer Gallery of Art Purchase List after 1920.

2. 39.39 was broken at the Gallery and repaired by Y. Kinoshita in July 1943.

3. (J.A.P., 1944) These ko are of presumably early form, lacking the hu (cf. 34.8). The two processes extending upward and downward at the back of the yuan [Ch] provide the only means for binding to the haft with a thong, and the hole in the nei [Ch] probably received a pin to strengthen the joint.
     At the back of the nei on each side is an area inlaid with small bits of turquoise arranged to form a small dragon with horn, snout, and curled tail, a type frequently occuring on bronzes of Shang type. Further inlay in the same material appears in a raised area on each side of the yuan. The back end of this, when the blade is held point down, roughly suggests the t'ao-t'ieh, and the long narrow part has a geometric pattern.
     The care taken with the inlay and the thinness of the objects as a whole indicate that they were made for ceremonial purposes rather than as functional weapons.
     Said to have been found at Anyang.

4. (J. Smith per Keith Wilson, 8/12/2008) Weapon and Armament added as secondary classification.

5. (S. Allee, 10 November 2008) Changed Title from "One of a pair of Ritual blades of type ko, with F39.40, decorated with turquoise inlay" to "Dagger-axe (ge) inlaid with turquoise." Changed Object Name from "Ritual blade (ko)" to "Ritual object." Added "and turquoise" to Medium.

Published References: Published References are currently unavailable.

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Dagger-axe (ge) inlaid with turquoise

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