Jade yue axe, Shandong Longshan culture-China Archive

Image Number:K1C005,681N000,000,000PAC
Dynasty:Neolithic Period
Category:Jade
Function:Ritual
Material:Mineral/jade jewelry/Jades
Description:
Fine opaque ivory Jade, hardness 6.5. The whole device is made of long trapezoid, straight and straight, with blunt edge and no use mark. The edge line and handle end are slightly skewed. Two round holes are drilled on both sides, and the round hole near the handle end is very small. One side of the table is engraved with the imperial poem “Ancient Jade Axe Pendant” written in the 32nd year of Qianlong (1767 of Dinghai) (included in Volume 61 of Complete Works of Imperial Poems and Proses of Emperor Gaozong of the Qing Dynasty – Three Episodes of Imperial Poems). There are two lines in the poem: “It may be carved into the shape of an axe, which can be used to judge integrity.”. It can be seen from the poem titles and lines that Emperor Qianlong did not think it was originally a jade weapon with a blade; Instead, the ancients carved beautiful jade into a “pendant” shaped like an axe, symbolizing the wearer’s virtue of determination, integrity and constancy