A Chinese mottled jade blade or ge

A Chinese mottled jade blade or ge, with a meridian ridge running along the length of the blade, well worked on either side and with one drilled fastening hole, the greyish stone mottled with brown inclusions, Shang dynasty c.1600-1100 BC, 25.5cm. Provenance: Sackville, 5th Earl of Yarborough. Jade blades of this type were ceremonial reproductions of bronze ge blades, used as infantry weapons in the Shang and Western Zhou dynasties.