‘GE’ DAGGER AXE BLADE

Description This dagger axe presents a typical ge shape: short blade with a triangular tip, wide baleen, raised rib that extends downwards, long rectangular tang. The weapon's distinctive feature is its main decoration, made in relief between the blade and the baleen, which depicts the head and neck of an animal seen in profile. The design of the head was created with a continuous stroke: the shape of the skull and muzzle, with the jaws wide open, ends in a volute that underlines the jaw of the feline (perhaps a tiger). The decoration appears very similar on both sides of the blade, but in a rather uneven manner. This type of axe-dagger is very widespread in central and southern China between the 5th and 4th centuries BCE. The shape of our specimen was certainly very widespread in Chu during the 4th century BC, while the style in which the tiger is depicted rather evokes the art of a peripheral region such as Sichuan, or of contacts with the world of the steppes.