{
"data": {
"id": 151358,
"accession_number": "1983.2",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Ceremonial Dagger-Axe with Animal Masks (Ge) (\u9955\u992e\u7d0b\u7389\u6208), c. 1600\u20131050 BCE. China, Shang dynasty (c. 1600\u2013c. 1046 BCE). Jade (nephrite); overall: 4.4 cm (1 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1983.2",
"current_location": "241A Arts of Ancient China",
"title": "Ceremonial Dagger-Axe with Animal Masks (Ge)",
"title_in_original_language": "\u9955\u992e\u7d0b\u7389\u6208",
"creation_date": "c. 1600\u20131050 BCE",
"creation_date_earliest": -1610,
"creation_date_latest": -1040,
"artists_tags": [],
"culture": [
"China, Shang dynasty (c. 1600\u2013c. 1046 BCE)"
],
"technique": "jade (nephrite)",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Chinese Art",
"collection": "China - Shang Dynasty",
"type": "Jade",
"measurements": "Overall: 4.4 cm (1 3/4 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"overall": {
"width": 0.044,
"length": 0.181
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 309669,
"title": "The Year in Review for 1983",
"description": "The Year in Review for 1983. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 22-April 8, 1984).",
"opening_date": "1984-02-22T05:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": [
{
"description": "Chinese Art from the Ferris Luboshez Collection. University of Maryland Art Gallery, College Park, MD (March 23-April 30, 1972).",
"opening_date": "1972-03-23T00:00:00"
}
]
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "Captain S. N. Ferris Luboshez, U.S.N. [1896\u20131984], consigned to sale at Sotheby's, New York",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "by 1972\u20131982",
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "(Sotheby Parke Bernet Inc., New York, NY, November 18, 1982, lot no. 3)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "November 18, 1982",
"sortorder": 2
},
{
"description": "(J. E. Eskenazi, Ltd., London, England, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "1982\u20131983",
"sortorder": 3
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "1983\u2013",
"sortorder": 4
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": "Traces of vermilion or cinnabar remain on the taotie mask design.",
"description": "Jade is an extremely hard material. In ancient China, it was carved or ground with fine abrasives, such as quartz sand, affixed to cutting or drilling tools. The form of this jade (ge, ceremonial dagger axe), was likely derived from similarly shaped bronze weapons. The pointed and slightly curved blade was symmetrically carved. It seems to emerge from the mouth of the taotie, the animal mask. The taotie\u2019s curved horns were carved in relief bands; its eyes, snout, and upper jaw are delineated in threadlike relief. Similar taotie designs are also seen on bronze vessels of the same period. The hole in the tang indicates where the blade was originally attached to a wooden shaft.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60758806"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1983.2-ceremonial-dagger-ax"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "McNamee, Harriet. Chinese Art from the Ferris Luboshez Collection. [Exhibition Held at] University of Maryland Art Gallery, March 23 - April 30, 1972. College Park: University of Maryland Dept. of Art, 1972.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: cat. 17, pp. 12, 42; Reproduced: fig. 19, p. 41",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Sotheby's, New York. Important Chinese Ceramics, Bronzes and Works of Art: the Collection of Captain S.N. Ferris Luboshez, USN (Ret'd). 18 November 1982. Lot 23.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: Lot 3",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Turner, Evan H. \u201cYear in Review for 1983.\u201d The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 71, no. 2 (February 1984): 38\u201379.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: no. 241, p. 66; Mentioned: no. 241, pp. 62, 77",
"url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/25159848"
},
{
"citation": "Wilson, J. Keith. \"Lithic Art in the Bronze Age: A Jade Dagger-Axe.\" The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 77, no. 1 (1990): 2-35.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: cover",
"url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/25160102"
},
{
"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 5",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1991/page/n20"
}
],
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"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 151358,
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"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "1983-01-07T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": -1610,
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"date_text": "c. 1600\u20131050 BCE",
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"alternate_titles": [
"Ceremonial Dagger-axe with Ogre Masks"
],
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"updated_at": "2026-03-26 23:59:42.741000"
}
}