Jades for Life and Death

Classification: Ceremonial Object

Maker(s): Artist: Longshan culture 龍山 (ca. 3000-ca. 1700 BCE)

Historical period(s): Late Neolithic period, ca. 3000-2000 BCE

Object Date: ca. 3000-2000 BCE

Medium: Jade (nephrite)

Dimension(s): H x W x D: 34.9 x 17.6 x 0.6 cm (13 3/4 x 6 15/16 x 1/4 in)

Origin: Northwest China

Credit Line: Gift of Arthur M. Sackler

Collection: Arthur M. Sackler Collection

Accession Number: S1987.452

: 斧
新石器時代晚期龍山文化（公元前3000--1700年）
中國西北
軟玉
高34.9、寬17.6、厚0.6釐米
亞瑟 M. 賽克勒贈送
器物編號：S1987.452

Provenance: To 1959
Abel William Bahr (1877-1959), Shanghai, China, London, England, Montreal, Canada, New York, NY, and Ridgefield, Connecticut [1]

From 1963 to 1987
Arthur M. Sackler, New York, purchased from the Bahr Collection in 1963 [2]

From 1987
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, gift of Dr. Arthur M. Sackler on September 11, 1987 [3]

Notes:

[1] According to information provided by the Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, October 9, 2009.

[2] See #19: "Blue-green with tan markings. Ax-shaped-two pierced holes near back edge. Nick in outting edge," on list provided by the Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, October 9, 2009, copy in object file.

[3] Pursuant to the agreement between Dr. Arthur M. Sackler and the Smithsonian Institution, dated July 28, 1982, legal title of the donated objects was transferred to the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery on September 11, 1987.

Previous owner(s): Abel William Bahr (1877-1959)
Dr. Arthur M. Sackler (1913-1987)

Description: The rectangular axe blade of mottled jade is slightly splayed toward the blunt, not quite symmetrically curved edge. The butt end of the axe blade is straight. Two conical perforations are placed asymmetrically, off center, at the butt end of the axe blade. (Surface dirt in general; bottom cutting edge nicked in one place.)

Past label text: 1. In Praise of Ancestors, September 28, 1987–January 5, 1989; by Thomas Lawton (jades of other types show in same case)
Axe
3d millennium BCE
China, Late Neolithic period
Jade

2. The Arts of China, November 19, 1990–September 7, 2014; by Jenny F. So (shown with S1987.890; additional jades of other types shown in same case)
Axe
China
Neolithic period, Longshan 龍山 culture
3d–2d millennium BCE
Jade

The cultural context and date of undecorated jades like these, which come from Neolithic workshops in different parts of China, are often determined from their shapes, materials, and basic manufacturing techniques, such as cutting, drilling, and polishing. Large ceremonial axes, sliced precariously thin and polished to a high gloss, are typical products of the Longshan 龍山 culture of eastern China; the enigmatic, asymmetrical tube is characteristic of the finds from the Hongshan 紅山 culture in the north and northeast.

Curatorial Remarks

1. (Jenny F. So, undated Folder Sheet note) The body of this axe is much thinner than that of S1987.722, and its silhouette shows a faint inward curve in the middle. Instead of one large perforation, two conical holes are drilled near the top; the larger one shows evidence of the bit having slipped during the early stages of drilling. The butt is straight and smoothly finished.

A recently published detailed study of Neolithic jade and stone axes shows that rectangular-shaped axes like S1987.916, S1987.722, and S1987.452 are types commonly found in Dawenkou 大汶口 and Songze 崧澤 cultures stretching from Shandong 山東 to Jiangsu 江蘇 along the east coast of China (Fu Hsien-kuo [Fu Xianguo] 傅憲國, "Shih-lun Chung-kuo hsin-shih-ch'i shih-tai ti shih yueh [Shilun Zhongguo xinshiqi shidai de shiyue] 試論中國新石器時代的石鉞," K'ao ku [Kaogu] 考古 1985.9, pp. 820--33). Jade and stone axes similar to those discussed above have been excavated at the late Neolithic site of Dawenkou 大汶口 in Shandong 山東 province (Shantung sheng wen-wu kuan-li ch'u [Shandong sheng wenwu guanlichu] 山東省文物管理處 and Chinan shih po-wu-kuan [Jinan shi bowuguan] 濟南市博物館, Ta-wen-k'ou: Hsin-shih-ch'i shih-tai mu-tsang fa-chueh pao-kao [Dawenkou: Xinshiqi shidai muzang fajue baogao] 大汶口：新石器時代墓葬發掘報告 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1974), pls. 23--24, pp. 36--37, figs. 27--28). The axes from this site show the same range in shape, thickness, and material. As in the examples above, the holes in the thinner blades were drilled only from one side, while those in the thicker ones were usually drilled from both sides.

The thick-bodied axe with the rounded cutting edge illustrated by S1987.890 is typologically older and has so far been associated only with Yangshao 仰韶 sites in the middle reaches of the Yellow River (Fu Hsien-kuo [Fu Xianguo] 傅憲國, "Shih-lun Chung-kuo hsin-shih-ch'i shih-tai ti shih yueh [Shilun Zhongguo xinshiqi shidai de shiyue] 試論中國新石器時代的石鉞," K'ao ku [Kaogu] 考古 1985.9, p. 825, figs. 4:1--2; Sian Pan-p'o po-wu-kuan [Xi'an Banpo bowuguan] 西安半坡博物館 and Weinan hsien wen-hua-kuan [Weinan xian wenhuaguan] 渭南縣文化館, "Shensi Weinan Shih-chia hsin-shih-ch'i shih-tai I-chih [Shaanxi Weinan Shijia xinshiqi shidai yizhi 陝西渭南史家新石器時代遺址," K'ao ku [Kaogu] 考古 1978.1, p. 45, figs. 8:3--4, p. 50, figs. 11:1--2). They occur only rarely and in burials only.

These axes were apparently hafted at right angles to the wooden handle, with the butt inserted in part into a prepared space at the head of the handle. Rope or cord passed through holes drilled into the wooden handle and the stone blade will then hold the two together (see Fu Hsien-kuo [Fu Xianguo] 傅憲國, "Shih-lun Chung-kuo hsin-shih-ch'i shih-tai ti shih yueh [Shilun Zhongguo xinshiqi shidai de shiyue] 試論中國新石器時代的石鉞," K'ao ku [Kaogu] 考古 1985.9, pp. 820--21).

2. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, August 14, 2008) Primary classification: Jade; secondary classification: Ceremonial object.

3. (Susan Kitsoulis per Keith Wilson, April 20, 2010) Object name changed from "Ritual weapon" to "Ceremonial object."

Published References

J. Keith Wilson, Jingmin Zhang. Jades for Life and Death. .
David Summers. Real Spaces: World Art History and the Rise of Western Modernism. New York, 2003. p. 89, fig. 22.
Elizabeth Childs-Johnson, Fang Gu. Yuqi shidai: Meiguo bowuguan cang Zhongguo zaoqi yuqi [The Jade Age: Early Chinese Jades in American Museums]. Beijing, 2009. pp. 218-219.

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Axe (fu 斧)

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