HAN DYNASTY (206 BC - AD 220)

细节

TWO GILT-BRONZE SWORDS
Han dynasty (206 BC - AD 220)
Each double-edged gilded blade cast with a central ridge and tapering to a fine tip, one handle tapering to a flattened circular hilt, the other cylindrical with two raised rings and a wide flattened hilt, the blade incised with scrolling dragon patterns, some malachite encrustation, numerous nicks to blade edges
17 5/8 in. (44.7 cm.) and 17¾ in. (45.2 cm.) long (2)

注意事项

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.

拍品专文

Acquired in August 1989.

C.H. Wang, Shang and Zhou Chinese Bronze Weaponry: C.H. Wang Collection, Taipei, 1993, p. 178, mentions that during the Warring States period, the sword was used as a symobl of status and rank. Following the Western Zhou, the swords gradually became longer.

Swords with entirely gilded and also engraved blades such as the present examples are relatively rare. Compare a sword of similar shape with two raised rings dated to the Late Spring and Autumn period, illustrated in C.H. Wang, op. cit., pl. 78; and a sword with flattened circular rim from the Warring States period, op. cit., pl. 97.