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Ax head
Ax head

Ax head

Original Language TitleYue
CultureChinese
DateShang dynasty (1500-1045 B.C.E.)
MediumBronze
DimensionsOverall: 6 7/8 × 1/4 × 9 1/4 inches (17.46 × 0.64 × 23.5 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust
Object number35-77
On View
On view
Gallery Location
  • 232
Collections
DescriptionAxe made for hafting; blade bears a band of ornament of confronted dragons. Head with large single character inscription on either side.Exhibition History

Denver Art Museum, 1937.

Gallery Label
Unlike the dagger-ax (ge) , which was widely used in warfare, broad-bladed axes termed yue seem to have been mainly ritual in nature. Pictograms on some examples show humans being decapitated with axes of this type, indicating its use as a sacrificial weapon. Two tigers confront one another at the base of the blade; the tang is decorated in thread relief, which defines sunken areas originally inlaid with turquoise.

Provenance

Purchased through Laurence Sickman by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1935.

Published References

Catalogue of the International Exhibition of Chinese Art 1935 – 1936, 3rd ed., no. 263 (London: Royal Academy of Arts, 1935), Ill (repro.).

Laurence  Sickman, “Archaic Bronzes at Burlington House,” Parnassus (February 1936), Ill (repro.).

Herrlee Glessner Creel, Birth of China; a Study of the Formative Period of Chinese Civilization (New York: F. Ungar, 1937, 1954), 205-206, Pl. x, Ill (repro.).

Phyllis Ackerman et al., Ritual Bronzes of Ancient China (New York, The Dryden press, 1945), pl. 63 (repro.).

Von Martin Feddersen, Chinesisches kunstgewerbe: ein Handbuch für Sammler und Liebhaber  (Braunschweig: Klinkhardt & Biermann, 1955), 118, Ill (repro.).

Michael Sullivan, An Introduction to Chinese Art (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1961), pl. 15 (repro.).

Michael Sullivan, Introduction à l'art chinois (Paris: Le Livre de poche, 1968), 61, fig. 17 (repro.).

Roger Ward and Patricia J. Fidler, eds., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection (New York: Hudson Hills Press, in association with Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993), 279 (repro.).

Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), 287, pl. 12 (repro.).

Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.


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