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A RARE BRONZE DAGGER, ANCIENT QIANG PEOPLE, CIRCA 5TH CENTURY BC
奥地利
2024年10月18日 开拍
此拍品禁止/限制出入境
拍品描述
A RARE BRONZE DAGGER, ANCIENT QIANG PEOPLE, CIRCA 5TH CENTURY BC

China. Well cast, the rounded leaf-shaped blade tapering towards the tip, two ridges along the center of the blade, the handle with a curved flange to one side and decorated with spirals and terminating in a straight pommel with a perforation.

Provenance: French trade. Acquired from a private collection.
Condition: Good condition, commensurate with age. Extensive wear, signs of weathering and erosion, corrosion, small losses, nicks, and casting flaws. Fine malachite patina overall.

Weight: 266.9 g
Dimensions: Length 21.8 cm

Mounted on a modern plexiglass stand. (2)

The form of this dagger suggests connections with ancient northern cultures. In the pre-Imperial period, cultures spread over a vast crescent from the northeast to the southwest formed a zone of exchange on the periphery of the Sinicized world and were united by common cultural traits.

The dagger is set apart by the hilt cast in one piece with the blade and by the transverse bar that terminates the hilt, which probably helped to ensure a firm grasp. Also distinctive is the guard formed of a single barb and the broad willow-leaf blade strengthened by a rib running the full length of the blade. These features argue for local manufacture and can perhaps be associated with the culture of the upper Min River in central Sichuan province.

People called ‘Qiang’ have been mentioned in ancient Chinese texts since 3,000 years ago when they first appeared in oracle bone inscriptions. Recognized as a ‘first ancestor culture’, there is evidence of the Qiang in northwestern China dating back to the 16th-11th centuries BC, when they were recorded bringing tribute to the Shang Dynasty. They were primarily known to practice pastoral nomadism, and resisted westward expansion of the Han Empire, gradually shifting to the south-west of their ancestral lands. The Tangut people of the Tang, Song and Yuan dynasties may be of Qiang descent. The modern Qiang people as well as Tibetans may also have been descended in part from the ancient Qiang.

Notably, when a dagger has a bronze hilt, it is often elaborately decorated while the blade remains plain. Conversely, when a dagger lacks an integrally cast hilt, the blade is typically decorated, sometimes along its entire length.

Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related bronze dagger, excavated at the Mao Xian Moutuo tomb 1, circa 5th century BC., 25.9 cm, illustrated by Robert Bagley in Ancient Sichuan: Treasures from a Lost Civilization, 2001, p. 233, fig. 81.1, after Wenwu 1994.3, p. 36, fig. 55.7. Compare a closely related bronze dagger, 5th century BC, 27 cm, in the private collection of Richard Nable.

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价格信息

拍品估价:500 - 1,000 欧元 起拍价格:500 欧元  买家佣金:

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