WARRING STATES PERIOD (475-221 BC)

Similar, but less intricate, cast decoration can be seen on the guard and the rings encircling the handle of a Warring States bronze sword of shorter size (42.1 cm.) included in the Illustrated Catalogue of Ancient Bronze Weaponry in the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, 1995, p. 204, pl. 33. Less intricate cast taotie masks can also be seen the guards of two Warring States bronze swords illustrated by M. Loehr in Chinese Bronze Age Weapons, Baltimore, 1956, pls. 38 and 40, nos. 98 and 99.