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Axe 3

Stone axe with symetrical markings 
  • Heavy green stone with eroded layers and calcification.
  • Hole is drilled from both sides, very obliquely to plane of the axe. Odd effort.
  • Various fissures and layers of stone have been exposed by age.
  • This axe was covered by calcification at one time.
  • 15.1 x 13.16 x 3.9 cm. -   1.22 kg.
 
In Chinese Jade: from the Neolithic to the Qing,  p. 172, Jessica Rawson makes the following comment about one of the stone axes in the exhibition.
 
"This axe makes exceptionally good use of the stone. Its approximately trapezoidal shape is mirrored in the layering of the stone, which must have carefully calculated by the carver. Cutting across the series of layers, which are revealed as lying one inside the other by the method of carving, are flaws..."
It seems to me that the same respect for the material was applied to this carving. I speculate that the oblique angle of the hole was caused by having to revise the plan of carving once the layering of the material was discovered.
I've placed a smaller image of the axe directly below to help show how the layers are symetrically exposed at the edge of the axe.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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