Axe blade (yue)

Object Details

• Description

  The thickened, blunt cutting edge and elaborate decoration indicate that this ax was not a functional weapon, but was used as military ceremonial regalia. Its rounded edge curves up with tips that end in tight curls, and a feline mask with prominent heart-shaped ears standing clear above the surface decorates each face of the blade. Two animals with notched spines and heads turned back grasp the sides, while their long tails curl with the tips of the blade. The openwork created by these animals on the sides is echoed by the notched and zigzagged outline of the tang, as well as the openwork pattern within.

• Label

  This ornate bronze ax demonstrates the importance of military power and the rituals that reinforced that power for the rulers of Bronze-Age China. Its extravagantly openwork outline with curvaceous dragons and large feline mask with ears in high relief on the flat face of the blade are typical of the decorative flamboyance that marked the beginning of the Western Zhou dynasty (ca. 1050-950 b.c.e.).

• Provenance

  From at least 1929

  Jörg Trübner (1903-1930), acquired in China [1]

  From at least 1930 to 1949

  Adolphe Stoclet (1871-1949), Brussels [2]

  To 1965

  Philippe R. Stoclet, New York, Adolphe Stoclet’s grandson, by descent from his family [3]

  1965

  Sale, Sotheby’s, London, Important Chinese Works of Art Ceramics and Jades, Including the Property of Mr. Philippe Stoclet (from the Collection of the late Adolphe Stoclet)…, May 11, 1965, lot 131: “A rare bronze ritual axe-head,… Chou dynasty,” ill., sold to “Ohly” [4]

  Private collector, United States [5]

  In about 1992

  J. J. Lally & Co. Oriental Art, New York, in about November 1992 [6]

  Baron G. collection [7]

  To 1996

  Oriental Bronzes Ltd., London, to January 1996 [8]

  From 1996

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Christian Deydier of Oriental Bronzes Ltd., London, England [9]

  Notes:

  [1] The object was published and illustrated in a commemorative volume assembled by Otto Kümmel and dedicated to Jörg Trübner.

  Trübner was a scholar specializing in Chinese bronzes. From 1925 until his premature death in Beijing in February 1930, he worked as an art dealer with his brother-in-law Edgar Worch, who was established in Berlin.

  Kümmel’s publication comprised objects which Trübner acquired in China and placed through Worch’s gallery in various collections in Europe and United States.

  See Otto Kümmel, Jörg Trübner zum Gedächtnis: Ergebnisse seiner letzten chinesischen Reisen (Berlin: Klinkhardt & Biermann Verlag, 1930), p. 52, pl. 23.

  [2] See Kümmel 1930, where the object is published as part of Adolphe Stoclet’s collection.

  The axe blade remained in the Stoclet collection until Adolphe Stoclet’s death in 1949, see H.F.E. Visser, Asiatic Art in Private Collections of Holland and Belgium (Amsterdam: De Spieghel Publishing Co., 1948), p. 41.

  [3] See Sotheby’s, London, Important Chinese Works of Art Ceramics and Jades, Including the Property of Mr. Philippe Stoclet (from the Collection of the late Adolphe Stoclet)…, auction cat. (May 11, 1965), p. 52.

  [4] The buyer of lot 131 is identified as “Ohly” in a list of buyers accompanying a copy of the Sotheby’s catalogue in Freer | Sackler Library.

  [5] Information provided by Laetitia Chemin of Oriental Bronzes Ltd. in 1996, see Oriental Bronzes Ltd.’s invoice, dated January 21, 1996, copy in object file.

  [6] The axe blade was advertised with a photographic image by J. J. Lally & Co. Oriental Art in the 1992 November issue of Orientations.

  [7] See note 5.

  [8] See note 5.

  [9] See Oriental Bronzes Ltd.’s invoice cited in note 5.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Honoring Friends: Recent Gifts by Members of the Freer and Sackler Galleries (June 10 to November 25, 2001)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Jörg Trübner

  Adolphe Stoclet (1871-1949)

  J.J. Lally & Co. Oriental Art (active 1986-2021)

  Baron G. collection

  Oriental Bronzes, Ltd. (established 1987)

• Origin

  China

• Credit Line

  Purchase — funds provided by the Friends of Asian Arts and the Smithsonian Collections Acquisition Program

• Type

  Ceremonial Object

• Restrictions and Rights

  CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  BCE 0s, BCE 1000s

• Name

  J.J. Lally & Co. Oriental Art, Stoclet, Adolphe, Trübner, Jörg, Oriental Bronzes, Ltd., G, Baron

• Place

  China

• Topic

  Bronze, Western Zhou dynasty (ca. 1050 - 771 BCE), Art, Animals, Sculpture, Chinese Art, Masks, Metal-work

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Ceremonial objects