COLLECTION NAME:
National Palace English
Record
Work ID:
M01C00056
Title:
Jade fu axe
Creation Date:
Late Neolithic Period
Start Year Date:
B.C.5000
End Year Date:
B.C.2000
Creation Place:
China
Measurements:
Length: 12 cm; Width: 5.2 cm; Thickness: 1.13 cm
Material:
Jade
Form:
Fu (axe)
Type:
Jades and Other Precious Stones
Repository:
The National Palace Museum, Taipei
Description:
This jade ax shows a beautiful, warm yellow tinge on the surface, probably because it has been handled for so long. It is slender and trapezoidal in form, and it has two perforations on one end. Near the sharp edge, there is a large, oval, sheared area, on which there remains shearing marks. The sharp edge divulges a curvature, and is chipped on three spots. From the chip marks and other traces, this ax was functional, and it might have been used to chop wood and plough land.From the form and the characteristic of this jade, it can be dated to 2000-3000B.C.E., and it was probably used by inhabitants of the lower Yellow river region in the late Neolithic period. In the Qing Dynasty, it became a treasure in the collection of the Qianlong emperor. In the first two years of the Jiaqing period (1796-97) when Qianlong became the retired grand-emperor, he composed two poems for it. The poems were inscribed on the surface, and the jade was matched with a zitan wood stand.
ImageV ID:
M01C00056AS002
Rights:
Lee & Lee Communications