Dagger-axe (ge 戈), fragment reworked

1. Original Folder Sheet note indicates name of source and location at date of acquisition. Source address listed in this record is most current.

Acquired in China as study material by Kuang chung Tung [Dong Guangzhong] 董光忠 (Carl Whiting Bishop's assistant for the Freer Gallery China Expedition, 1923--34). Transferred from the Study Collection: SC-X452I.
 
2. (Julia K. Murray, A Decade of Discovery: Selected Acquisitions 1970--1980 [Washington, D.C.: Freer Gallery of Art, 1979], no. 3) Another item recently accessioned from the Bishop study collection by the Freer Gallery is a pair of diminutive ritual jade blades (F1979.35 and F1979.33), or ko [ge] 戈 (only one of which is displayed). Although they originated in simple Neolithic shapes, jade ko [ge] 戈 developed in the Shang 商 as imitations of the bronze dagger. Some examples dramatically illustrate this typological dependence by being mounted in bronze handles, often inlaid with turquoise stone. [1] Jade ko [ge] 戈 had a ceremonial rather than a military significance and were often very large and heavy objects. Many of the large jade ko [ge] 戈 have been excavated in Shang 商 sites, and numerous other unprovenanced examples are to be found in museum collections, [2] including the Freer collection.
 
Like other early examples, this small ko [ge] 戈 is very simply shaped with a few facets, beveled edges and a hole, possibly for mounting to a handle, although many ko [ge] 戈 were actually never intended to be so affixed.  Drilled from both sides of the blade, this hole is biconical in shape, tapering inward toward its center rather than being entirely straight sided. Smoothly polished, the cream colored jade shows natural mottling as well as accretions of earth and slight calcification, a degenerative process by which the jade loses its hardness and becomes powdery.
 
While miniature jade ko [ge] 戈 are rarely encountered, [3] in contrast to the larger type, this piece may be compared to an example in the Winthrop Collection at the Fogg Art Museum (1943.50.193), one that actually consists of two miniature ko [ge] 戈 joined along their top edges by a thin filament of stone. [4]

[1] A recently excavated example came from Tomb no. 5 of Fu Hao 婦好 at Anyang 安陽, Chung-kuo k'e-hsueh-yuan k'ao-ku yen-chiu-suo Anyang kung-tso-tui [Zhongguo kexueyuan kaogu yanjiusuo Anyang gongzuo dui] 中國科學院考古研究所安陽工作隊, "Anyang Yin-hsu wu-hao-mu di fa-chueh [Anyang Yinxu wuhao mu de fajue] 安陽殷墟五號墓的發掘," K'ao ku hsueh pao [Kaogu xuebao] 考古學報 1977.2, pl. 14: 6 (438).

[2] Numerous ko [ge] 戈 in the Winthrop Collection are reproduced in Max Loehr, Ancient Chinese Jades from the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection in the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University (Cambridge, MA: Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, 1975), cats. 26--86.

[3] A miniature ko [ge] 戈 with a rather more slanted tang was unearthed from Tomb no. 1 at the Shang 商 site of Su fu t'un [Sufu tun] 蘇埠屯, I tu [Yidu] 益都, Shantung [Shandong] 山東. Reproduced in Chutu wenwu zhanlan gongzuozu 出土文物展覽工作組, ed., Wenhua dageming qijian chutu wenwu 文化大革命期間出土文物 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1972), p. 124.
 
[4] Max Loehr, op. cit., cat. 68.

3. (Julia K. Murray, 1982) For a general discussion of jade ko [ge] 戈, see Folder Sheet F1917.396.
 
Miniature ko [ge] 戈 like F1979.33, F1979.35, F1916.149, F1916.150, F1939.19 and F1939.20 seem to have been made as pendants to be worn, and they frequently appear in burial inventories of the late Shang 商 and early Western Chou [Zhou] 周 periods. Alteration of the nephrite of most of the examples listed would support the possibility that they were in contact with products of decomposition found in a grave.
 
Miniature ko [ge] 戈 similar in appearance to F1979.33 and F1979.35 were found in the late Shang 商 site of Ta ssu k'ung ts'un [Dasikong cun] 大司空村 at Anyang 安陽 (Ma Te-chih [Ma Dezhi] 馬得志, Chou Yung-chen [Zhou Yongzhen] 周永珍 and Chang Yun-p'eng [Zhang Yunpeng] 張雲鵬, "1953 nien Anyang Ta-ssu-k'ung ts'un fa-chueh pao-kao [1953 nian Anyang Dasikong cun fajue baogao] 1953年安陽大司空村發掘報告," K'ao ku hsueh pao [Kaogu xuebao] 考古學報 1955.9, pls. 19: 3 and 4); and in the early Western Chou [Zhou] 周 sites at Ling t'ai [Lingtai] 靈台, Kansu [Gansu] 甘肅 (Kansu sheng po-wu-kuan wen-wu-tui [Gansu sheng bowuguan wenwudui] 甘肅省博物館文物隊, "Kansu Ling-t'ai Pai-ts'ao-p'o Hsi-chou mu [Gansu Lingtai Baicaopo Xizhou mu] 甘肅靈臺白草坡西周墓," K'ao ku hsueh pao [Kaogu xuebao] 考古學報 1977.2, pl. 16: 7) and Hsun hsien [Jun xian] 濬縣, Honan [Henan] 河南 (Kuo Pao chun [Guo Baojun] 郭寳鈞, Hsun hsien Hsin ts'un [Jun xian Xin cun] 濬縣辛村 (Beijing: Kexue chubanshe, 1964), pl. 50: 12).
 
4. (Kate Theimer, drawn from project written by Sarah L. Newmeyer, April 25, 1995) Carl Whiting Bishop was a member of the Freer Gallery staff who made a series of expeditions to China for the purpose of acquiring objects for the collection. The first expedition (1923--1927) was funded jointly by the Freer Gallery and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. The second expedition (1929--1934) was sponsored solely by the Freer. The 758 objects he acquired were accessioned into the Study Collection and were known as the Bishop Collection. Bishop acquired objects by both purchase and excavation. When the method of acquisition is known, it has been indicated in this record. The Freer Gallery Archives contain extensive primary information about Bishop and the expeditions, including Bishop's journal, 4,000 photographs of sites and of many objects, correspondence, and check stubs.

5. (Jenny F. So, October 2, 1995) Subject changed from "Miniature dagger axe (ko [ge] 戈)" to "Miniature dagger ax (ge 戈)."
 
6. (Stephen Allee per Keith Wilson, June 16, 2008) As per Jenny F. So, Jade Project Database, changed Date from "1300--1050 BCE" to "ca. 1600--ca. 1050 BCE." Also changed Object Name from "Weapon: dagger axe (ge 戈) blade" to "Jewelry"; changed Title from "Miniature dagger axe (ge 戈)" to "Ge-shaped pendant." Added Dimensions per Christine Lee, from Jade Project Database.
 
7. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, July 16, 2008) Jewelry added as secondary classification.

8. (Stephen Allee, March 23, 2009) Added designation "nephrite" to Medium as per Janet Douglas using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (January 8, 2009).
 
9. (Rachel Anderson per Jeffrey Smith, October 1, 2010) Transfer of remark from Provenance Field: "Freer Gallery of Art  Study Collection (Bishop Collection) by transfer to the Freer Gallery of Art permanent collection, August 8, 1974.
 
Acquired in China as study material by Kuang chung Tung [Dong Guangzhong] 董光忠 (Freer Gallery Associate Curator, Carl Whiting Bishop's assistant for the Freer Gallery China Expedition) for the Freer Gallery of Art Study Collection (Bishop Collection), 1923--25."

10. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, August 17, 2017) Title changed from "Ge-shaped pendant" to "Dagger-axe (ge 戈), fragment reworked"; period one changed from "Shang dynasty" to "Late Shang dynasty"; period two added "Anyang period"; date changed from "ca. 1600-ca. 1050 BCE" to "ca. 1300-ca. 1050 BCE"; geography changed from "China" to "China, probably Henan province, Anyang"; dimensions changed from "H x W x D: 8.4 x 2.3 x 0.3 cm (3 5/16 x 7/8 x 1/8 in)" to "H x W x D: 2.3 x 8.4 x 0.3 cm (7/8 x 3 5/16 x 1/8 in)"; object name changed from "jewelry" to "axe".

11. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, February 11, 2019) Added Chinese translation by Jingmin Zhang; removed the following from the description field, "Small dagger-axe, type ge. Smoothly polished, mottled cream-buff jade, with earth accretions. The curving blade has a median crest that stops at the binconical perforation on the tang, which has a diagonal butt. The narrow upper and lower facets of the blade curve outward from the beginning of the sharp-pointed tip."

Added the following to the description field, "Small dagger axe, type ge 戈. Smoothly polished, mottled cream buff jade dagger-axe, with earth accretions. The curving blade has a median crest that stops at the conical perforation (drilled from both sides) on the tang. The tang has a diagonal butt. The narrow upper and lower facets of the blade curve outward from the beginning of the sharp pointed tip."