Jades for Life and Death

Classification: Ceremonial Object

Historical period(s): Anyang period, Late Shang dynasty, ca. 1300-ca. 1050 BCE

Object Date: ca. 1300-ca. 1050 BCE

Medium: Bronze with turquoise inlay and jade (nephrite) blade

Dimension(s): H x W x D (overall): 7.4 × 21.8 × 1.3 cm (2 15/16 × 8 9/16 × 1/2 in)

Origin: China, probably Henan province, Anyang

Credit Line: Gift of Arthur M. Sackler

Collection: Arthur M. Sackler Collection

Accession Number: S1987.898

戈
晚商安陽時期（公元前1300-1050年）
中國，疑似河南安陽市
青銅鑲嵌綠松石，軟玉刀片
高7.4、寬21.8、厚1.3釐米
亞瑟·M·賽克勒贈送
器物標號:S1987.898

Provenance: As early as 1928
Likely discovered at archeological sites in Anyang, Honan Province, China [1]

To 1948
Zhang Naiji (1899–1948), Shanghai, China then New York, NY [2]

1948 to around 1954
Zhang Mei Chien (1901–c.1955), New York, NY inherited upon her husband’s death [3]

Possibly around 1954 to 1961
C. T. Loo Chinese Art, New York, NY likely purchased from Zhang Mei Chien in New York, NY [4]

Possibly from 1961 to 1964
Frank Caro Chinese Art, New York, NY, mode of acquisition unknown [5]

Possibly from around 1954 to 1960s
J. T. Tai & Company, New York, NY possibly purchased from Zhang Mei Chien in New York, NY [6]

To 1987
Dr. Arthur M. Sackler, New York, purchased from either Frank Caro Chinese Art or J. T. Tai & Company in New York, NY [6]

From 1987
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, gift of Dr. Arthur M. Sackler on September 11, 1987 [7]

Notes:

[1] Object published in Archaic Chinese Jades: Special Exhibition (Philadelphia: The University Museum, February 1940), cat. 49. Catalogue entry notes discovery site. Excavations at Anyang began in 1928.

[2] Zhang Naiji (also known as N.C. Chang) was a businessman, born to a prestigious family in Zhejiang that made their wealth in the silk and salt industries. He collected ancient Chinese art objects and Chinese coins. Zhang amassed his collection whilst living in Shanghai, before leaving for America in 1938, and acquired his objects onsite of archeological excavations (see: Alfred Salmony, Chinese Jade through the Wei Dynasty. New York: The Ronald Press Company, 1963: 115.).

Zhang lent his collection anonymously to Archaic Chinese Jades: Special Exhibition. We know his identity through letters housed in the Department of Archives, The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (see: letter, C. T. Loo to Horace Jayne, 25 October 1939 and letter, from C. T. Loo to Horace Jayne, 16 December 1939), copies in FǀS COM provenance files. The exhibition was entirely organized by C. T. Loo & Company, New York. Letters exchanged between C. T. Loo and the director of The University Museum, Mr. Horace H.F. Jayne, reveal that Zhang Naiji owned the objects and C. T. Loo & Company had the collection on consignment (see: letter, from C. T. Loo to Horace Jayne, 28 May 1939 and letter, from C. T. Loo to Horace Jayne, 23 October 1940, copies on COM provenance files). C. T. Loo & Company kept the jade collection on consignment from 1940 through Zhang’s death in 1948, inventorying the pieces with a prefix “J” and labeling each item as “Chang Collection.”

[3] Zhang Mei Chien, Zhang Naiji’s wife, assumed ownership upon his death in 1948. She sold several pieces from her husband’s collection to both C. T. Loo & Company and J. T. Tai & Company. She sold to J. T. Tai & Company in July 1954 (for example, see J. T. Tai & Company Stock Record YT 886 and YT 895, copies in COM provenance files). It is unclear when C. T. Loo Chinese Art purchased items from Zhang Mei Chien.

[4] On September 1, 1952, C. T. Loo’s associate, Frank Caro (1904-1980) took over daily operations of C. T. Loo & Company, New York, operating as C. T. Loo Chinese Art. Loo continued to play a large role in the business, as he and Caro struck a deal in which profits made on Loo’s stock would be evenly divided and Loo would maintain the lease and rental payments on the company’s gallery space.

[5] In 1961, Loo and Caro’s agreement ended. C. T. Loo & Cie., Paris, France took control of C. T. Loo Chinese Art, New York’s stock that C. T. Loo had added to the inventory before his death in 1957. Frank Caro then opened Frank Caro Chinese Art. Caro acquired pieces from Loo’s original stock (the mode of acquisition is unknown). Frank Caro acquired several ancient jades from C. T. Loo Chinese Art and sold them to Dr. Sackler in the 1960s (for example, see: S1987.668 and S1987.644).

[6] In July 1964, Mrs. Zhang sold several pieces of her husband’s jade collection to J. T. Tai & Company. J. T. Tai & Company sold several of these jades to Arthur M. Sackler (for example, see: S1987.573, S1987.653, and S1987.607).

[7] This object was inventoried by conservators of the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in 1986. It was part of Arthur M. Sackler’s foundational 1987 gift to the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery.

[8] 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): C.T. Loo & Company (1914-1948)
Zhang Naiji 張乃驥 (1899-1948)
Zhang Mei Chien (1900-1998)
C.T. Loo Chinese Art (1953-1961)
Frank Caro Chinese Art (1962-1980)
Dr. Arthur M. Sackler (1913-1987)

Description: The cream-white jade blade has an indistinct crest and edges beveled continuously to the tip. The blade is sharpened toward the asymmetrically placed point. It is fitted into the rectangular socket or tang that has a perforation between the vertical bar and rectangular butt. The bronze haft was probably inlaid with turquoise. Now the lug and the haft (or the socket and the butt) show taotie mask decor executed in cloisonné, which give the impression of sunken relief. There also is evidence on the bronze haft of textile wrapping now carbonized. (Earthy deposits; heavy green patina and incrustations on the bronze haft; blade separated from haft; chips on haft.)

Past label text: In Praise of Ancestors, September 28, 1987–January 5, 1989; by Thomas Lawton (shown with S1987.899, other Neolithic axe and harvesting knives shown in same case)

Dagger-axe (Ge 戈)
ca. 1200 BCE
Shang 商 dynasty
China
Jade

Curatorial Remarks

1. (Undated Folder Sheet note) This handsomely fashioned ceremonial dagger-axe, or ge 戈, has a jade blade and a heavily corroded bronze fitting. While the facets on the flat jade blade are indistinct, the clearly defined median crest runs from the point to the edge of the bronze socket. Vertical bars project above and below the socket. Stylized taotie masks decorate the rectangular portions of the bronze fitting immediately adjacent to the jade blade. Similar masks appear on the outer edges of the bronze tang. Those decorated portions of the bronze fitting were originally inlaid with a contrasting material, perhaps turquoise. A small, circular perforation on the plain segment of the tang would have permitted the dagger-axe to be mounted securely to a wooden haft.

The Sackler dagger-axe is said to have been found at Anyang 安陽 in Henan 河南 province, the site of a major metropolitan Shang 商 dynasty ritual and funerary complex. The shape and decoration of the piece are consistent with that attribution.

2. (Stephen Allee per Keith Wilson, June 17, 2008) As per Jenny F. So, Jade Project Database, changed Date from "ca. 1200 BCE" to "ca. 1600--1050 BCE." Changed Object Name from "Weapon: dagger-axe (ge 戈) blade with bronze tang" to "Ceremonial object." Added Dimensions (blade) per Christine Lee, from Jade Project Database.

3. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, July 16, 2008) Ceremonial object added as secondary classification.

4. (Jeffrey Smith per Janet Douglas, June 17, 2010) Nephrite added as modifier to existing medium of "jade" based on conservation analysis.

5. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, August 22, 2017) Title changed from "Dagger-axe (ge)" to "Dagger-axe (ge 戈)"; period one changed from "Shang dynasty" to "Late Shang dynasty"; period two added "Anyang period"; date changed from "ca. 1600-1050 BCE" to "ca. 1300-ca. 1050 BCE"; geography changed from "China" to "China, probably Henan province, Anyang"; medium changed from "Bronze and jade (nephrite)" to "Bronze with turquoise inlay and jade (nephrite) blade"; dimensions changed from "H x W x D (overall): 21.8 x 7.4 x 1.3 cm (8 9/16 x 2 15/16 x 1/2 in)" to "H x W x D (overall): 7.4 × 21.8 × 1.3 cm (2 15/16 × 8 9/16 × 1/2 in)".

6. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, January 29, 2019) Added the following to the description field, "The cream-white jade blade has an indistinct crest and edges beveled continuously to the tip. The blade is sharpened toward the asymmetrically placed point. It is fitted into the rectangular socket or tang that has a perforation between the vertical bar and rectangular butt. The bronze haft was probably inlaid with turquoise. Now the lug and the haft (or the socket and the butt) show taotie mask decor executed in cloisonné, which give the impression of sunken relief. There also is evidence on the bronze haft of textile wrapping now carbonized. (Earthy deposits; heavy green patina and incrustations on the bronze haft; blade separated from haft; chips on haft.)" Added Chinese translation by Jingmin Zhang; and added past label text Thomas Lawton.

Published References

J. Keith Wilson, Jingmin Zhang. Jades for Life and Death. .

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Dagger-axe (ge 戈)

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