Lot 101. A rare archaic bronze turquoise-inlaid sword, jian, Early Warring States Period, 8.2cm (22 7/8in) long (3). Estimate HK$300,000 - 500,000 (US$39,000 - 64,000). Sold for HK$ 375,000 (€43,030). Photo: Bonhams.

The long pointed blade with bevelled edges and a long median ridge, the ribbed handle with a wing-shaped guard inlaid with turquoise forming a taotie mask motif and ending in a flattened concave pommel, with olive-green patina and malachite encrustations, fitted box and metal stand. 

Provenance: Professor Max Loehr
Eskenazi Ltd., London, 11 March 1991
The Sze Yuan Tang Archaic Bronzes from the Anthony Hardy Collection, Christie's New York, 16 September 2010, lot 825

Published and Illustrated: Li Xueqin, The Glorious Traditions of Chinese Bronzes: From the Anthony & Susan Hardy Collections and the Sze Yuan Tang, Singapore, 2000, pp.116-117, no.42

Exhibited: Asian Civilizations Museum, Singapore, 2000, no.42
Hong Kong Museum of Art, 2002-2006, no.CB87

Note: Max Loehr (1903-1988) was an eminent art historian and professor of Chinese art at Harvard University from 1960 to 1974. A foremost authority in his field of expertise, Professor Loehr published a number of books and numerous articles on Chinese art in the fields of archaic bronzes, jades and paintings.

Compare a similar bronze sword with raised linear designs and taotie designs on both sides of the guard, Warring States period, in the collection of the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., illustrated by T.Lawton, Chinese Art of the Warring States Period: Change and Continuity, 480-222 BC, Washington D.C., 1982, p.72, no.29. Compare also another related turquoise-inlaid sword inscribed with 'given by decree from the King of Yue', early Warring States period, in the Zhejiang Provincial Museum, Hangzhou, illustrated in Zhongguo Qingtongqi Quanji 11 Dong Zhou 5, Beijing, pp.96-97, nos.101-104. See a further related bronze sword with variegated surface, Warring States period, excavated from a tomb of the State of Chu, in Jiangling County, Hubei Province, illustrated by W.Watson, The Genius of China, 1973, p.96, no.129. A further sword of similar size, with a turquoise-inlaid guard and collars, is illustrated by M.Loehr, Chinese Bronze Age Weapons, Michigan, 1956, pl.XXXVIII, no.98. 

Bonhams.  FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 30 May 2017, 15:00 HKT - HONG KONG, ADMIRALTY