AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE AND IMPORTANT ARCHAIC TURQUOISE-INLAID BRONZE SWORD LATE SPRING AND AUTUMN - EARLY WARRING STATES PERIOD

the fine blade well cast with a crisp median ridge and beveled edges tapering toward a pointed tip, the cylindrical hilt encircled by two flanges with abstract scrollwork, below a wing-shaped guard decorated on either side with a stylized mythical beast mask, all above a disc-shaped pommel, one side of the blade with two columns of inscription, each comprising six characters in niaochongzhuan (bird-worm seal script) reading Caigongzi Cong zhiyong (for the use of Cong, son of the Marquis of Cai), the inscription, guard and handle flanges inlaid with turquoise, the other side plain, the surface with areas of malachite encrustation
Length 20 1/8 in., 51 cm

Provenance:
C.T. Loo, New York, 1941.
Collection of Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978).