Detail View: The AMICA Library: Spearhead
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AMICA ID:
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ASIA.1993.004
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AMICA Library Year:
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1999
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Object Type:
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Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects
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Creator Nationality:
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Asian; Far East Asian; Chinese
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Creator Name-CRT:
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Chinese
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Title:
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Spearhead
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View:
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Full view
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Creation Date:
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Shang period, 13th-11th century BCE
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Creation Start Date:
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0
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Creation End Date:
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0
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Materials and Techniques:
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Bronze
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Classification Term:
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Spearheads
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Classification Term:
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Bronzes
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Creation Place:
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North China
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Dimensions:
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H. 6 1/4 in. (15.9 cm); W. 1 1/2 in. (3.8 cm)
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AMICA Contributor:
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Asia Society
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Owner Location:
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New York, New York, USA
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ID Number:
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1993.004
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Credit Line:
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Asia Society: Estate of Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller
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Rights:
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Context:
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The description of the Shang and Zhou periods in Chinese history as a Great Bronze Age stems from both the astonishing variety of shapes and motifs found in their ritual vessels and the sheer technical complexity involved in producing them. The use of bronze is one of the hallmarks of the culture that controlled a large part of northern China during the Shang period, c. 1700-c. 1050 BCE. Anyang, the capital city of the late Shang period (c. 1300-1050 BCE), was located in Henan Province in north-central China. The excavation of this site over the last 66 years has revealed large palace buildings, bronze-casting and other workshops, important burials, and numerous spectacular bronze vessels. In addition to ritual vessels, bronze was used to make weapons such as axes, halberds, spearheads, and arrowheads.
The extremely narrow point of this spearhead and the articulation where the shaft joins the head is typical of pieces made during the Shang dynasty. Spearheads dating to later periods are generally broader. The decoration of this spearhead is cast along the top and bottom of the shaft. There are two registers of decoration: at the top of the shaft loose thundercloud motifs (leiwen) are cast in low relief, while at the bottom, granulation provides the background for the decoration. The curving forms cast in high relief against these two backgrounds might be dragons but are too abstract to identify precisely. |
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Related Image Identifier Link:
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ASIA.1993.004.a.tif
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