H x W x D: 34.9 x 17.6 x 0.6 cm (13 3/4 x 6 15/16 x 1/4 in)
Culture:
Longshan culture, ca. 3000-ca. 1700 BCE Search this
Type:
Ceremonial Object
Origin:
Northwest China
Date:
ca. 3000-2000 BCE
Period:
Late Neolithic period
Description:
The rectangular axe blade of mottled jade is slightly splayed toward the blunt, not quite symmetrically curved edge. The butt end of the axe blade is straight. Two conical perforations are placed asymmetrically, off center, at the butt end of the axe blade. (Surface dirt in general; bottom cutting edge nicked in one place.)
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 #19:
"Blue-green with tan markings. Ax-shaped-two pierced holes near back edge. Nick in outting edge," 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)
