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Chinese jade dagger blade

Image attached to O.21-1946

An image of Dagger. This unusual large jade ge blade and a short but wide tang with traces of cinnabar. The edge and surface of this halberd has calcified. The tang with rows of parallel ridged grooves, a form of decoration derived from the pattern of metal sections seen on Erlitou bronze blades. A large hole on the blade and another smaller one on the tang, were drilled from the same side. The unfinished carved line on this halberd, particularly the triangular shape in the middle, suggests that it was in the process of being altered into a different object. Large halberds such as this one are very unusual Shang tomb objects and might have appeared near the chest of the deceased. Nephrite, length 32 cm, width 18.2 cm, 1600-1050 B.C. Chinese.

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About this image

Dagger. This unusual large jade ge blade and a short but wide tang with traces of cinnabar. The edge and surface of this halberd has calcified. The tang with rows of parallel ridged grooves, a form of decoration derived from the pattern of metal sections seen on Erlitou bronze blades. A large hole on the blade and another smaller one on the tang, were drilled from the same side. The unfinished carved line on this halberd, particularly the triangular shape in the middle, suggests that it was in the process of being altered into a different object. Large halberds such as this one are very unusual Shang tomb objects and might have appeared near the chest of the deceased. Nephrite, length 32 cm, width 18.2 cm, 1600-1050 B.C. Chinese.

Image data

  • Accession Number: O.21-1946
  • Photograph copyright © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
  • Aperture: f/25.0
  • Focal length: 50
  • Camera: Canon EOS 5D
  • Photographer name: Michael Jones
  • Image height: 681 pixels
  • Image width: 1023 pixels
  • Processed with: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.0 (Windows)
  • Filesize: 85.69kB
  • Exposure time: 1/125
  • ISO Speed: 100
  • Fnumber: 25/1
  • Captured: 2007:11:16 17:25:14

Key words

BC blade carved ceremonial ceremonies Chinese dagger edged weapon Fitz_AA halberd jade nephrite weapon

Colours in this image

rgb(162,157,139), rgb(115,105,80), rgb(4,4,4), rgb(124,132,116), rgb(132,100,71), rgb(121,124,124), rgb(47,40,28), rgb(132,109,60), rgb(27,28,20), rgb(60,72,80), rgb(52,60,72)

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The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) " Chinese jade dagger blade" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/image/media-3788784248 Accessed: 2024-03-28 14:22:31

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{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/image/media-3788784248 |title= Chinese jade dagger blade |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-03-28 14:22:31|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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