Lot 812. A bronze dagger with rattle, 12th-11th Century BC. Estimate USD 6,000 - USD 8,000 © Christie's Images Ltd 2017.

The tapering blade has a raised midrib on each side that extends from the tip through the plain guard, and the curved hilt is cast with a central band of diamond decoration set between horizontal linear borders, all below a small attachment loop and an eight-strap openwork rattle with convex cap. The blackish surface has a smooth polish. 10 ½ in. (26.6 cm.) long

Provenance: The Erwin Harris Collection, Miami, Florida, by 1995.

Literature: J. F. So and E. C. Bunker, Traders and Raiders on China's Northern Frontier, Washington D.C., Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, 1995, p. 100-101, no. 14.

Note: J. F. So in Traders and Raiders on China’s Northern Frontier, p. 100, notes that a virtually identical dagger was found in Ji Xian, northern Shaanxi province. See, also, the two related daggers, or short swords, with rattle pommels, illustrated by E. C. Bunker et al., Ancient Bronzes of the Eastern Eurasian Steppes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, New York, 1997, pp. 118-19, nos. 3 and 4. Each has similarly cast decoration on the curved hilt and similar plain guard. Although the rattle of no. 3 has only four straps, the bronze has the same smooth, black patina.

Christie's. The Harris Collection: Important Early Chinese Art, 16 March 2017, New York, Rockefeller Center