A rare jade dagger-axe in a turquoise-inlaid bronze haft, Shang dynasty, Anyang period | 商代安陽時期 嵌綠松石青銅柄玉戈

Collection of the Estate of Charlotte B. McKim, Palm Beach, Florida.

Sotheby Parke Bernet New York, 2nd November 1979, lot 16.

Charlotte B. McKim 承產收藏，棕櫚灘，佛羅里達州

紐約蘇富比1979年11月2日，編號16

An Exhibition of Chinese Archaic Jades, arranged for Norton Gallery of Art, West Palm Beach, Florida, C.T. Loo, inc., New York, 1950, pl. III:1.

Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, no. 7 (label).

《An Exhibition of Chinese Archaic Jades, arranged for Norton Gallery of Art, West Palm Beach, Florida》，盧芹齋，紐約，1950年，圖版III:1

香港藝術館，香港，編號7（標籤）

The Shang produced a variety of weapons, primarily made of bronze and jade, sometimes made of bone, shells and other types of stones. Among these, the most exceptional and rare are the ones made of jade with bronze handles, such as the present piece. The visual appeal of this ge would be striking, with the golden sheen of the bronze contrasting against the vivid aqua blue of the turquoise and the luminous and smoothly polished jade. A wide range of dagger-axes in various forms have been discovered at Anyang, and this particular type, with a flat tang, was prevalent during the early phases of the late Shang dynasty. See a related example of comparable size housed in the Shanghai Museum; a smaller example, with much of the turquoise inlay gone, from the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection in the Fogg Art Museum (accession no. 1943.51.7); and another from the collection of the Hon. Hugh Scott, sold twice in our rooms, first in our New York rooms, 7th December 1983, lot 37; then again in these rooms, 22nd April 2021, lot 46. Compare also a slightly smaller example, from the collection of Baron and Baroness von Oertzen, sold twice at Christie's London, 4th November 2008, lot 117 and 3rd November 2020, lot 1.