Chinese bronze axe decorated with tigers and dragons

An image of Axe head. The blade, socket, and socket cap all one piece of metal. The blade is flanked by two tigers. On the blade is a coiled dragon, a conventionalised dragon's head, and a t'ao t'ieh mask in the piece of blade at the back. On the cap is an elephant's head with horse's legs and a tiger's head at the back. Bronze, height 11.1 cm, length 14.6 cm, circa 500-249 B.C. Chou dynasty (1122-249 BC). Chinese Warring States period.

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Axe head. The blade, socket, and socket cap all one piece of metal. The blade is flanked by two tigers. On the blade is a coiled dragon, a conventionalised dragon's head, and a t'ao t'ieh mask in the piece of blade at the back. On the cap is an elephant's head with horse's legs and a tiger's head at the back. Bronze, height 11.1 cm, length 14.6 cm, circa 500-249 B.C. Chou dynasty (1122-249 BC). Chinese Warring States period.

Image data

Accession Number: O.192-1946
Photograph copyright © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
Aperture: f/19.0
Focal length: 80
Camera: Hasselblad H3D II-31
Photographer name: Michael Jones
Image height: 805 pixels
Image width: 1024 pixels
Processed with: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.4 (Windows)
Filesize: 556.60kB
Exposure time: 1/8
ISO Speed: 100
Fnumber: 19/1
Captured: 2009:05:19 00:17:21

Key words

animals axe axe head axe-head BC bronze Chinese Chou Dynasty dragons elephants Fitz_AA mask metalwork t'ao t'ieh taotie mask tigers weapon Zhou Dynasty

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            The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025)
            "Chinese bronze axe decorated with tigers and dragons"
            Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/image/media-201911 Accessed: 2025-12-05 09:53:13

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            {{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/image/media-201911
            |title=Chinese bronze axe decorated with tigers and dragons
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            University of Cambridge}}

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        <figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Chinese bronze axe decorated with tigers and dragons</figcaption>
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