The swords of yue
The Sword of the King of Yue (top), is now part of the collection of Yue weapons at the Zhejiang Provincial Museum. It is an excellent example of the foundry skills of the Yue blacksmiths. The sword handle (above right) is inlaid with turquoise, and scholars have deciphered the inscriptions on the handle (above left), which identifies the owner as the King of Yue, with his monogram - Zhuji Yushi. Provided to China DailyAlmost 2,500 years ago, a dramatic tale of humiliation, defeat, subversion, revenge and victory was played out between the kingdoms of Yue and Wu. The main characters have faded largely into legend, but some very real relics serve as sharp reminders of that period in Chinese history. Zhang Kun reports.
The monument stands proudly in the front yard of the Zhejiang Provincial Museum, a sword piercing through its base of stone, a commemoration of the homecoming of one of the museum's most important exhibits - the Sword of the King of Yue, Zhuji Yushi (越王者旨於睗剑).
Zhuji Yushi ruled the Kingdom of Yue for only six years (464-459 BC), but he had many weapons made to his name, according to Liang Xiaoyan, a researcher with Zhejiang Provincial Museum. This sword was an example of the excellent foundry skills Yue blacksmiths were famous for. The craftsmen of the Kingdom of Yue, which occupied most of present day Zhejiang, had developed secret alloys of tin and copper that made the swords extremely sharp and sturdy. Some were so sharp that archeologists had cut themselves while uncovering these relics made two and a half millennia ago.
In October 1995, Professor Ma Chengyuan, an expert on ancient Chinese bronzes and the curator of the Shanghai Museum, received a faxed picture of a sword that he identified as the one belonging to Zhuji Yushi.
He was impressed enough to fly all the way to Hong Kong where it had been put up for sale. Once there, Ma experienced a moment of panic because he didn't have the HK$1 million ($128,400) that the seller wanted, but he could not let the sword go.
Pressure also came from a few overseas clients who had expressed strong interest and were willing to offer a higher price for the sword.
Ma called Professor Cao Jinyan, the incumbent associate curator of Zhejiang Museum then, suggesting that the museum buy the sword, since it was part of Zhejiang's history. Cao, equally excited by the rareness and fine condition of the sword, was in a dilemma. The museum had a small budget and a meager amount set aside for purchasing new items.
Bronze Age Sword - News
He decided to make an appeal for donations, and the Hangzhou Iron Group promptly answered the call, donating the HK$1.36 million needed to bring the sword home. The Sword of Zhuji Yushi now sits quietly among the display of bronze weapons created by
Modern fencing as we know it originated in France in the 19 th century, although the art of sword fighting was practised as early as the late bronze age. It was included as part of the 1896 Summer Olympic program and 10 fencing events will take place
Kopis and Shield: The kopis was a single-edged sword with a mostly forward curve, used for slashing. Its two distinctive features were the bulge near the last 1/3 of the blade, and the pommel's hooked shape. Unlockable Weapon: Mahkaira and Shield: The
That Thomas/Smith comic had so many imitators in the Bronze Age that it kind of wiped away whatever the barbarian genre had been before, just as the James Whale "Frankenstein" film replaced, in popular consciousness, the reality of the quite-different
The splendid feathers, sword and scabbard of the Knight Templar of the Sixties make it more reminiscent of the age of chivalry than that of the Beatles. But Diary hears that the icing on the cake will be an ostrich feather-trimmed “chapeau” hat.
Early bronze age sword with decorated blade (Drouwen)
Here's something I've been working on quite a while, a reproduction of the sword of the Chieftain from Drouwen, Netherlands. It's the earliest known sword from this country, dating to 1800-1600BC. It's also one of the wealthiest graves from this period in western Europe, containing the sword, axe (which I've already reproduced), razor, wetstone, set of arrowheads, gold spirals and a flint firestriker (probably originally with pyrite or markasite stone, not preserved). I cast the blade in casting sand. I'd done some earlier casts in a soapstone mould, but I wanted a blade that was good enough for me to be happy with. The original blade is rather low in tin content, only 4.1% plus about 2% of other impurities. I've cast the blade in 6% tin, to keep the copper contents identical. For the rivets I cast rods and sheet in the same alloy, which were hammered and cut into shape. The whole finishing was done mostly with modern tools. The cutting edges are hardened, and ground slightly hollow. And below you can see images of the completed sword, which is a little over 40cm in length. The hilt shape is based on imprints on the original blade, and bronze hilted variants. It fits really nice in the hand, and the sword definately feels like it was made for business. I'm quite proud on how nice this one has turned out, definately one of the finest pieces I've made.
Bronze Age Sword - Bookshelf
Swords and daggers in Late Bronze Age Canaan
INTRODUCTION The purpose of this work is to present the history of the dagger and the sword in the Late Bronze Age of Canaan, incorporating most of the ...The end of the Bronze Age, changes in warfare and the catastrophe ca. 1200 B.C.
128 It was the misdating of the four Ugarit swords that for a long time obscured how deficient Late Bronze Age swords in the eastern Mediterranean were in ...The bronze age
... (7) Ogival dagger, South Germany, Middle Bronze Age. Fig. 8. Rapiers and swords . ... Italy, Early Bronze Age; (6) Middle Bronze Age sword, Denmark. ...The Bronze Age
... (7) Ogival dagger, South Germany, Middle Bronze Age. Fig. 8. Rapiers and swords . ... Italy, Early Bronze Age ; (6) Middle Bronze Age sword, Denmark. ...The rise of Bronze Age society, travels, transmissions and transformations
A similar observation has been made in later studies of central European Bronze Age swords by one of us (Kristiansen 2002b). Randsborg's method of using a ...Information Search Directory
Bronze Age Swords
Bronze Age Swords. Reproductions of bronze Age swords, created using authentic materials by skilled bronze sword smith.
Bronze Age sword - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Bronze Age swords typically range from 50 to 90 cm in length (the maximum length feasible for such material), but with some longer exceptions.[citation needed] ...
Bronze Age Craft (Bronze Sword Casting)
Bronze Age Craft. Details of practical workshops / demonstrations in the UK and reproductions of bronze age artefacts.
Welcome - Bronze Age Foundry
Dave W Chapman's Bronze Age Foundry is dedicated to recreating tools, weapons and ornaments based on ones first made in the Bronze Age. ...
Bronze Age Craft (Swords for Sale)
The Hallstatt C Mindelheim Sword Late Bronze Age, high status cavalry sword. ... khopesh Middle Bronze Age, Canaanite "sickle- sword " Length 60cm, ...