Ethnographic Arms & Armour
 

Go Back   Ethnographic Arms & Armour > Discussion Forums > Ethnographic Weapons

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Old 4th November 2015, 11:25 AM   #1
CutlassCollector
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Scotland
Posts: 321
Default Chinese Sword Museum - Hangzhou

On a recent visit to China I found this sword museum tucked between - the much less interesting - Scissor Museum and Umbrella Museum. It concentrates almost exclusively on Chinese swords from several hundred years BCE up to modern times.
There was very little information translated into English from Mandarin but here are some photographs.


Below:
From years BCE to 1368 start of the Ming Dynasty.
Attached Images
      

Last edited by CutlassCollector; 4th November 2015 at 11:47 AM.
CutlassCollector is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 4th November 2015, 11:28 AM   #2
CutlassCollector
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Scotland
Posts: 321
Default

Ming Dynasty 1368 to 1644
Attached Images
    
CutlassCollector is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 4th November 2015, 11:30 AM   #3
CutlassCollector
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Scotland
Posts: 321
Default

Qing Dynasty 1644 to 1911
Attached Images
    
CutlassCollector is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 4th November 2015, 11:39 AM   #4
CutlassCollector
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Scotland
Posts: 321
Default

Republic of China 1911 to 1949

I include these from the 20th century (hopefully allowable) for interest and to show the continuity of some features
These were issued to troops fighting the Japanese in the 1930's.
Attached Images
  
CutlassCollector is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 4th November 2015, 12:36 PM   #5
Ian
Vikingsword Staff
 
Ian's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: The Aussie Bush
Posts: 4,007
Default

CC:

Thank you for posting these. This museum seems like a good place to visit. It's a shame they have not preserved some of these swords in better shape. They all look as though they need a good clean and some rust prevention.

Do you have any further pictures of older swords from this site?

Ian.

Last edited by Ian; 4th November 2015 at 12:59 PM.
Ian is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 4th November 2015, 05:46 PM   #6
CutlassCollector
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Scotland
Posts: 321
Default

Hi Ian,

Yes, I agree the swords do not appear to be well preserved. The museum is still fairly new so hopefully they will catch up with that and with the translations.
For obvious reasons the display of early swords was limited but I attach the other photos from that period.
CC.
Attached Images
      
CutlassCollector is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 4th November 2015, 07:28 PM   #7
josh stout
Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 407
Default

Very nice and greatly appreciated. I am skeptical about the "Ming" attribution for meany of the village jian. People have been debating their age for a while, and the general consensus is there is no way to date them accurately. Phillip Tom and Artzi laughed at my attempts to date similar examples and any claims toward their being Ming. Such examples might be, but a later 17th or 18th century date is more likely. If I were to go out on a limb, I would call those early Qing, based on the fittings and blade styles. There is a narrow bladed example that may be earlier, but most have pommels and guards that are often attributed to the Qing. There is one wooden handled example that is in a Ming style but I would attribute it to of a type of wooden handled Daoist ritual sword frequently seen using Ming forms.

I am even less confident about any attempt to date the sabers. The blade forms certainly are similar to Ming depictions, but they persisted through the 19th century, and I see nothing that would definitively place the majority earlier than the late 18th c.. Conservatively I would place the majority in the early to mid 19th c..

If anyone has a good reason to assign better dates, please tell me.
josh stout is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 5th November 2015, 11:38 AM   #8
CutlassCollector
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Scotland
Posts: 321
Default

Hi Josh,

Thanks for your input, sorry I can't help you any further with dates as my knowledge of Chinese swords is minimal. The museum only attributed to period or dynasty and, as I'm sure you know, that can vary from short periods to three centuries.
I did notice that almost all the Ming and Qing swords had been donated by one individual. So perhaps when the government built the museum they accepted the catalogue at face value rather than instituted more rigorous research.
I believe the museum is still a work in progress to some extent.
CC
CutlassCollector is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 5th November 2015, 03:36 PM   #9
David R
Member
 
David R's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 1,048
Default

Many thanks for posting the above pictures, nice to see a museum of Chinese swords.
David R is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 10:06 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Posts are regarded as being copyrighted by their authors and the act of posting material is deemed to be a granting of an irrevocable nonexclusive license for display here.