OFFERS INVITED Warring States Period, 475 to 221 BCE. An impressive sword, cast in a single piece, with a long, straight blade, exquisitely decorated with a shallow central fuller. It has a simple, wing shaped guard, a thin oval handle with a single raised finely decorated grip nub that would have had leather wrapped to either side, and a broad, elliptical and decorated pommel with a space to insert a jewel or some other decorative element. SIZE: 18 inches long. WEIGHT: 306 grams Condition: Excellent excavated condition. UK Delivery included. INTERNATIONL DELIVERY AVAILABLE - Call for shipping cost. Comes with information sheet. Comes with our usual 10 day refund guarantee.
The type of sword is called a jian, a double-edged straight sword that has been used in China for 2500 years. This blade was made during a time of flux in Chinese society, when kingdoms and warlords traded land constantly, and finely made weapons such as this one were signs of prestige. It was also a time of transition in weapon technology, as Chinese craftsmen refined the methods of iron smelting and began to make iron (steel) swords, which were preferable in battle to bronze ones - but bronze remained a valuable material, used in ceremonial and funerary weapons. The patina on this example shows that it spent centuries buried.
