A BRONZE ‘TIGER’ HALBERD BLADE, ZHONGHU GE, EASTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, WARRING STATES PERIOD

Published
: Religion and Ritual in Chinese Art, Michael B. Weisbrod, Inc., New York, USA, 8 December 1987, no. 12, page 40.

China, 480-220 BC. Finely worked with an elongated triangular blade (yuan) flaring gently into the flat blade guard. Cast in relief with the profile of the ferocious feline with a gaping mouth, baring fangs, and an extended long curling tongue, all in high relief. The ears and forelimbs bent with the body incised on the shank. The end of the yuan pierced with two rectangular chuan (apertures), the tang (nei) with a circular chuan. A rectangular tang with foliate incisions projects from the guard ending in a double curve ‘E’-shaped edge.


Provenance
: Michael B. Weisbrod, New York, USA. The private collection of an American north-east collector, acquired from the above, c. 1987-1988. Michael B. Weisbrod is a noted scholar of Chinese art, who has published extensively on the subject over a time span of more than 50 years. In 1972, Michael joined his father Dr. Gerald Weisbrod’s Asian art gallery in Toronto, Canada. The father-and-son team opened their New York location on Madison Avenue in 1977, and during the next 45 years the gallery held a significant number of exhibitions, selling to museums and private collectors across the globe, eventually adding further locations in Shanghai and Hong Kong.

Condition
: Very good condition, commensurate with age. Extensive wear, weathering and erosion, nicks and cracks, shallow surface scratches, possibly minor old fills. Fine, solid patina with distinct malachite and cuprite encrustations. Presenting remarkably well overall.

Weight: 396.4 g (excl. stand)
Dimensions: Length 27.4 cm

With a modern stand. (2)


The ge dagger-axe
was found in burials from the early Shang through the Warring States period. It came to be a ritual object and a part of the requisite ceremonial paraphernalia of a courtier. According to James Menzies, by the early Western Zhou, “its inclusion in the attire of nobles and officials at all formal functions may be presumed”; and in addition to other Shang and Western Zhou rituals, it may have been used in ceremonial war dance, celebrating the Zhou conquest of the Shang (Menzies, the Shang Ko, pp. 314-316). The ge was also frequently pictured on bronze vessels possibly as a clan emblem.


Although the tiger appears on blades of the late Shang and early Western Zhou periods
, the feline and the shape of the tang on the present lot indicate a product of a different culture. Manufacture of ge with triangular blades discontinued in the Central Plains area of China by the middle Western Zhou period. The type seems to have persisted in the kingdoms of Ba and Shu in modern Sichuan province through the Warring States period. Many of these excavated ge from this area have E-shaped tang which did not appear among the Shang or Western Zhou blades. Tigers are frequently seen as motifs on the various types of ge and other weapons of the Ba-Shu area. This may be related to the legend that when Lin Jun, first ancestor of the Ba tribe, died,
his soul was transformed into a white tiger.


Literature comparison:

Compare profile tigers similar to this lot which are reproduced in Tong Enzheng’s “Investigations of the bronze ge from Southwest China” (Kaogu Xuebao 1979, no. 4, pp. 442, fig. 1:6, pp. 447, fig. 3; see also Wenwu 1976 no. 3, p. 41 fig.2 and pl. I, no. 6; Wenwu 1976 no. 7, p. 82-85; Kaogu 1986 no. 11, pp. 986, fig. 6). Compare with a Zhonghu Ge with tiger pattern, China, unearthed at Dubaishu, Pixian County, Chengdu City, Warring States period, 475 - 221 BC, bronze Sichuan Provincial Museum Chengdu, China, accession number DSC04243.




東周戰國虎紋中胡銅戈


中國，公元前480-220 年。戈，流行於商代至漢代的一種格鬥兵器，最早出現於先秦時期。因作戰需要和使用方式不同，便分為長、中、短戈三種。此戈長援中胡，長方形內，近欄處有三穿。援後部至內兩面飾半浮雕虎頭，張口吐舌，口中一穿；援的末端穿有兩個長方形的穿，內有一個圓形的穿。 帶有葉狀切口的矩形柄腳從防護裝置中伸出，末端為雙曲線“E”形邊緣。


出版：
Michael B. Weisbrod, Inc.，《Religion and Ritual in Chinese Art》，紐約，1987年12月8日，編號12，第 40頁。


來源
：
美國紐約Michael B. Weisbrod收藏；美國東北私人收藏，1987-1988年購於上述收藏。Michael B. Weisbrod是一位著名的中國藝術學者，在 過去五十多年的時間裡就該主題發表了大量著作。1972年，Michael加入了他父親Gerald Weisbrod博士在加拿大多倫多的亞洲藝廊。 這對父子團隊於1977 年在麥迪遜大道開設了他們的紐約分店，在接下來的四十五年裡，藝廊舉辦了大量展覽，向全球各地的博物館和私人收藏家出售作品，最終在上海和香港開設了分店。

品相
：
狀況非常好，大面積磨損、風化和侵蝕、刻痕和裂縫、表面淺劃痕，可能有輕微的小修。細膩、堅實的包漿，帶有明顯的紅綠色結殼。

重量：396.4 克 (不含底座)
尺寸：長27.4 厘米

現代支架。 (2)


從商初到戰國時期的墓葬中都發現了戈
，它是朝臣必備的禮儀用具的一部分。根據James Menzies的說法，到了西周早期，“可以推測，它已經出現在貴族和官員在所有正式場合的服裝制式中”； 除了商朝和西周之外，它還被用於儀式性的戰舞，慶祝週征服商朝（Menzies，《the Shang Ko》，第 314-316 頁）。青銅器上也經常出現戈的圖案，可能是作為氏族的徽章。


此類虎紋戈似乎在戰國時期一直存在於現代四川省的巴蜀王國中
。該地區出土的許多戈刀都具有商或西周刀中所沒有的“E”形刀柄。巴蜀地區的各種戈具和其他武器上都以老虎為圖案。這或許與巴族始祖林俊死後靈魂化為白虎的傳說有關。


文獻比較：

比較一件相似的，同恩正《西南青銅考》（《考古學報》1979，第4期，第442頁，圖1：6，第447頁，圖3。見《文武》1976年第3期，頁41，圖2和第6期，圖一）。 比較一件戰國時期西元前475 - 221年虎紋虎戈，出土成都市郫縣杜拜樹，四川省博物館，館藏編號DSC04243。