H x W x D: 49.4 x 17.2 x 0.6 cm (19 7/16 x 6 3/4 x 1/4 in)
Culture:
Longshan culture, ca. 3000-ca. 1700 BCE Search this
Type:
Ceremonial Object
Origin:
China
Date:
ca. 2000-1700 BCE
Period:
Late Neolithic period
Description:
Fashioned of tannish green stone with irregularly shaped, multicolored flecks throughout, the blade is highly polished on both surfaces. The blade, which has been reworked at one upper corner, has an otherwise straight back. Both of the oblique, shorter edges are straight. The curved cutting edge is beveled on both sides and is marked by irregular indentations that appear to have resulted from hard wear. Four large conical perforations appear along the upper edge of the blade. A fifth hole, also conical and drilled from the same side as the other four, is still visible in the reworked portion of the upper corner. A sixth, smaller conical perforation, drilled from the opposite side, occurs on the horizontal axis in the smaller portion of the blade.
Acquired with an inscribed box.
Provenance:
Duanfang (1861-1911), Peking [1]
From the early 1900s
Mrs. Agnes E. Meyer, presumably acquired from an unidentified dealer, New York in the early 1900s [2]
To 1983
Elizabeth Meyer Lorentz, Armonk, New York, given by her mother, Mrs. Agnes E. Meyer, to 1983 [3]
From 1983
Freer Gallery of Art, given by Elizabeth Meyer Lorentz in 1983 [4]
Notes:
[1] According to Curatorial Remark 2, T. Lawton, 1983, in the object record.
