Interesting Chinese Sword At The Field Museum

[Derek]

Gentlemen,

I went to the Field Museum in Chicago yesterday, to see the new exhibit of the Terracotta Army.

Link here:  https://www.fieldmuseum.org/discover/on-exhibit/warriors/

It was very interesting by itself, but I was really surprised to see this sword.

We get so used to equating Chinese swords to junk on ebay, so it was a real treat to see an example of what lead to the eventual birth of nihonto. 

Bronze, with chrome plating from Qin Dynasty. (221-206 BC)  Excavated in Pit 1 at the Army excavation site. 

Mods, feel free to move this to whatever section you feel appropriate.

 

[b.hennick]

The field museum has a good collection of tsuba. Unfortunately many have been"cleaned". It is possible to see the collection if you arrange to have supervision there.

[Ken-Hawaii]

A very interesting blade, to say the least!  Speaking as an engineer, chromium plated over bronze 2200 years ago seems a bit unlikely, but there are copper deposits with high percentages of chromite, so if the blade was subjected to heat, the chromium could have migrated to the surface.  It would be interesting to hear more about this blade.

 

Thanks for posting it, Derek.

 

Ken

 

[ROKUJURO]

Seems really interesting although chrome plating is not exactly the same as chromium oxide on the blade's surface. I can imagine that some natural electro-chemical process may have taken place. 

[Jussi Ekholm]

Very nice picture Derek. I believe this same exhibition was on display in Tampere about three years ago when I visited it. I'm posting another picture, which in comparison looks like it was taken with a potato... This shows how important the display & lighting are when items are on display. I visited the exhibition with my sister and both of us thought some of the rooms were way too dark as it was hard to get a proper look of some of the items. At least the actual Terracotta warriors that were the main attraction were properly displayed and could be really enjoyed.

 

Not really adding any insight of the sword itself but the displaying of this item seemed to me like day & night, and I thought it would be important to point it out. Seeing this item in Tampere in person and seeing it displayed like that in Chicago, it just makes a huge difference how the item is on display.