An archaic inlaid bronze dagger (Ge), Warring States period | 戰國 青銅夔龍紋戈

The present bronze halberd blade was likely from the Wu state during the Spring and Autumn period. This attribution is supported by a similar bronze ge of this type, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, that has an eight-character inscription cast along the center of the yuan on both sides, reading Hanwang Shi Ye zuowei yuanyong (“for the use of the King of Han, Shi Ye”), published in the Palace Museum, ed., Bronzes in the Palace Museum, Beijing, 1999, pl.263. According to the Eastern Han dynasty text Shuowen jiezi (‘Explaining literature and analysing characters’) compiled by the famous scholar Xu Shen (c.30-124), Han was a location inside the state of Wu. For a detailed discussion on the Palace Museum ge and its inscription, see Max Loehr, Chinese Bronze Age Weapons. The Werner Jannings Collection in the Chinese National Palace Museum, Peking, London, 1956, no.82, pp.169-174. Compare also a similar example, from the collection of Stephen Junkunc, III (d.1978), sold in our New York rooms, 10 September 2019, lot 237.