SWORD BLADE

Description The blade is in the shape of an elongated willow leaf, with central thickening and beveled threads on both sides. The blade has undergone a surface treatment that gives it a black spotted appearance on a silver background, obtained by hammering the bronze with a fine round-section punch. Thanks to this technique, the coppery color of the metal resurfaces under the surface, which had been previously treated to obtain a black color. In addition to this abstract decoration, some drawings (near he tang) were traced during the casting process. On one face a deer chased by a tiger is visible; on the other side a right hand with the arm bent at a right angle, parallel there's an object resembling a key (more likely a weapon) and a knife it a ring. An additional character appears in front of these two motifs. Both the naturalistic motifs and the writing belong to the Ba-Shu culture, and are not yet decipherable.