Object: Dagger-axe (ge 戈), fragment reworked F1916.150

Classification: Ceremonial Object

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

Object Date: ca. 1300-ca. 1050 BCE

Medium: Jade (nephrite)

Dimension(s): H x W x D: 2.5 × 8.9 × 0.2 cm (1 × 3 1/2 × 1/16 in)

Origin: China, probably Henan province, Anyang

Credit Line: Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Collection: Freer Gallery of Art Collection

Accession Number: F1916.150

: 戈（殘損后另加工）
晚商安陽時期（公元前1300-1050年）
中國，疑似河南安陽市
軟玉
高2.5、寬8.9、厚0.2釐米
查爾斯·蘭·佛利爾贈送
器物編號：F1916.150

Provenance: To 1916
Lai-Yuan and Company, New York, to 1916 [1]

From 1916 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Lai-Yuan and Company in 1916 [2]

From 1920
The Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]

Notes:

[1] See Original Miscellaneous List, S.I. 887, pg. 194, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

[2] See note 1.

[3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.

Previous owner(s): Lai-Yuan & Company (C.L. Freer source) (ca. 1915-April 1921)
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

Description: Miniature blade; chalky white incrustation with traces of cream color showing through in worn spots; blade bevelled; butt decorated with bands of vertical and horizontal incised lines, conical perforations bored from one side in center of butt. (Blade edge badly chipped and broken.)

Curatorial Remarks

1. Bought from Lai Yuan and Company 來遠公司, New York. For price, see Original Miscellaneous List, p. 194.

2. (Undated Folder Sheet note) Original attribution: Han 漢. See further, S.I. 887, Appendix VII.

3. (Carl Whiting Bishop, 1922) For type, see F1915.108 and F1917.396.

4. (John Ellerton Lodge, 1928) Late Chou [Zhou] 周.

5. (Isabel Ingram Mayer, 1945) Shang 商 dynasty.

6. (Julia K. Murray, 1982) For a general discussion of jade ko [ge] 戈, see Folder Sheet F1917.396.

Miniature jade ko [ge] 戈 like F1916.150 may have been used as pendants (see Folder Sheet F1979.33) and are frequently found in late Shang 商 to early Western Chou [Zhou] 周 burials. The nehprite material of the present example is almost completely altered; the chalky white areas are not accretions as stated in the description, but rather areas of alteration. There are traces of red material, identified as vermilion, adhering in the incised patterns. These patterns are arranged as follows: a band of lozenge shaped motifs above the hole; a band of herring bone patterns crossing the hole; and double incised crenellations on the butt.

7. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, July 17, 2008) Jewelry added as secondary classification.

8. (Susan Kitsoulis per Keith Wilson, June 29, 2010) Object name changed from "Miniature blade (ge 戈)" to "Ceremonial object."

10. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, August 17, 2017) Title changed from "Miniature blade" to "Dagger-axe (ge 戈), fragment reworked"; Period One changed from "Shang dynasty" to "Late Shang dynasty"; Period Two "Anyang period"; Geography changed from "China" to "China, probably Henan province, Anyang"; and Date changed from "ca. 1600-1050 BCE" to "ca. 1300-ca. 1050 BCE".

11. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, February 7, 2019) Added Chinese Translation by Jingmin Zhang.

Published References

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

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Dagger-axe (ge 戈), fragment reworked

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