[Dagger-Axe] Jade-workers modeled jade dagger-axes after the bronze Ge, the most commonly used weapon in China for roughly 1500 years. People probably used these thin, delicate jade blades during ritual ceremonies.

Implements like this Ge provide information about the elaborate pageantry of Shang ceremonies. We know little about this first Chinese dynasty. Until archaeologists discovered the Shang capital city, Anyang, in 1928, the dynasty's existence was doubted.

Courtesy of the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, gift of Arthur M. Sackler
Jade Dagger-Axe (Ge): China; 13th-12th centuries B.C.. Shang Dynasty (1700-1050 B.C.)

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