Interesting Chinese Jian sword

Nick Wardigo · 10th December 2004, 03:18 AM

Being a jian collector, I thought I'd chime in.

From experience, I associate this style of scabbard fittings to very late Qing (late 19th century to early 20th). Toward the end of the dynasty, the fittings tend to be more simple (at least on the user pieces). Your fittings appear to be substantial, something that isn't universally true.

The scabbard and handle carvings are a bit of a puzzle for me. I've seen similar handle carving on butterfly swords of the same era, but very rarely on a jian handle, and I don't think I've ever seen it on a scabbard. Very nice.

I would associate the scabbard and handle with the scabbard fittings, that is, I think they were put together at the same time. I think the crossguard and probably the pommel are from another set. This type of scabbard fitting is usually paired with a similarly simple crossguard. Coming from the other direction, this style of hilt fitting is usually paired with a similarly decorated scabbard fitting (like the example that John posted). I suspect the blade and hilt fittings are older (early to mid-1800s), and the weapon was re-scabbarded and re-handled in the early 1900s.

I agree that the decoration is likely Taoist, but I would not discount the possibility of Buddhist. While the references to the 8 Immortals certainly points to Taoism, I'd like to draw attention to the use of swastikas in the background pattern. While the swastika is also a Taoist symbol, I usually association this type of patterning with Buddhism; one often sees it on Korean and Vietnamese weapons.

The blade is quite nice. I'm not surprised about the lack of the seven stars. I don't have hard statistics or anything, but I find they show up on about half of the nicer blades I encounter.

10th December 2004, 03:18 AM	#10
Nick Wardigo Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA Posts: 54	Being a jian collector, I thought I'd chime in. From experience, I associate this style of scabbard fittings to very late Qing (late 19th century to early 20th). Toward the end of the dynasty, the fittings tend to be more simple (at least on the user pieces). Your fittings appear to be substantial, something that isn't universally true. The scabbard and handle carvings are a bit of a puzzle for me. I've seen similar handle carving on butterfly swords of the same era, but very rarely on a jian handle, and I don't think I've ever seen it on a scabbard. Very nice. I would associate the scabbard and handle with the scabbard fittings, that is, I think they were put together at the same time. I think the crossguard and probably the pommel are from another set. This type of scabbard fitting is usually paired with a similarly simple crossguard. Coming from the other direction, this style of hilt fitting is usually paired with a similarly decorated scabbard fitting (like the example that John posted). I suspect the blade and hilt fittings are older (early to mid-1800s), and the weapon was re-scabbarded and re-handled in the early 1900s. I agree that the decoration is likely Taoist, but I would not discount the possibility of Buddhist. While the references to the 8 Immortals certainly points to Taoism, I'd like to draw attention to the use of swastikas in the background pattern. While the swastika is also a Taoist symbol, I usually association this type of patterning with Buddhism; one often sees it on Korean and Vietnamese weapons. The blade is quite nice. I'm not surprised about the lack of the seven stars. I don't have hard statistics or anything, but I find they show up on about half of the nicer blades I encounter.