still attached to the remains of an ironblade with a wood hilt, and now broken due to the expansion of the metal. The upper edges of the jade have raised shoulders flanking the blade, the one remaining side flares outward and the lower edges curve gently inwards towards a central point. The front is worked with a sinuous dragon in high relief; the dragon has a flat muzzle and well-defined features. An incised line borders the guard. Less than half the jade remains to the reverse: one eye and the side of a taotie mask incised with simple single lines and scrolls. The jade is a pale yellowish-green tone with areas altered to russet through contact with the metal and through burial.

A very similar example is illustrated in Loehr, Ancient Chinese Jades from the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection in the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, no. 574, p. 397. Twelve long swords have been found in the tomb of the king of Nanyue (died circa 122 BC), placed next to the body, of which five were fitted with jade accessories and some of these were still attached to the blades: see Lam, Jades from the Tomb of the King of Nanyue, nos. 71, 83, 88 and 91. For other examples, see Lawton et al, The Inaugural Gift: Asian Art in the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, no. 70, p. 114; Cultural Relics Bureau of Hebei Province, Han Tombs in Mancheng County: Cream of Cultural Relics of Hebei Province, no. 71, from the tomb of Prince Liu Sheng, where it is noted that “This kind of sword was the weapon carried by kings and princes”; and Keverne, Jade, fig. 8, p. 346.