Taoist and Chinese swords

[Philip]

As you are no doubt aware, the double edged sword (jian) is a potent symbol in Taoist iconography, as an implement for vanquishing evil and marshalling supernatural forces. Three outstanding and rare Taoist ritual swords of the Ming and Qing are illus. and described at length in the superbly annotated catalog, TAOISM AND THE ARTS OF CHINA (Stephen Little/Shawn Eichman, eds), The Art Institute of Chicago, 2000). One of them has an inscription identical to that on a Sino-Korean jian in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which I am discussing in my upcoming book on dao and jian.

The book TAOISM... also contains several paintings, mostly Ming but also some Yuan and Qing works, that depict jian being held or wielded. This graphic material is invaluable for the study of the weapon's development between the Yuan and Ming periods, from which few examples survive in their original mountings. This book is a "must" for anyone interested in jian development, and ritual swords in particular.