H x W x D: 37.3 x 6.6 x 0.7 cm (14 11/16 x 2 5/8 x 1/4 in)
Culture:
Longshan culture, ca. 3000-ca. 1700 BCE Search this
Type:
Ceremonial Object
Origin:
Shenmu Shimao, probably Shaanxi province, China
Date:
ca. 3000-1700 BCE
Period:
Late Neolithic period
Description:
Green black. Blade slightly narrows toward the center and widens at the two-pronged tip. Tip sharpened to a fine edge. One side of the blade is flat, the other almost imperceptibly concave. Surface slightly pitted, nicked in one place that appears to have been buffed down. One tip of cutting edge broken off and old breaks at handle and on both projections.
Provenance:
To 1959
Abel William Bahr (1877-1959), Shanghai, China, London, England, Montreal, Canada, New York, NY, and Ridgefield, Connecticut
[1]
From 1963 to 1987
Arthur M. Sackler, New York, purchased from the Bahr Collection in 1963 [2]
From 1987
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, gift of Dr. Arthur M. Sackler on September 11, 1987 [3]
Notes:
[1] According to information provided by the Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, October 9, 2009.
[2] See #11:
"Green black. One tip of cutting edge broken off and old breaks at handle and on both projections," on list provided by the Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, October 9, 2009, copy in object file.
[3] 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.
Collection:
Arthur M. Sackler Collection
Exhibition History:
The Arts of China (November 18, 1990 to September 7, 2014)
In Praise of Ancestors: Ritual Objects from China (September 28, 1987 to January 1, 1989)
Studies in connoisseurship: Chinese paintings from the Arthur M. Sackler collection in New York and Princeton (December 8, 1973 to 1975)
