The Sword of Goujian was excavated in 1965 from Wangshan Tomb No. 1 in the Jiangling area, now part of Jingzhou. Its unusually well-preserved patterned surface and sharp edge helped make it one of Hubei Provincial Museum’s best-known objects. The blade belongs to the late Spring and Autumn period. Looking closely brings out the work of the metalworker: a repeated diamond pattern, the fitting of the hilt and small areas of contrasting colour.
From the journal
A King’s Name on a Bronze Blade
The Sword of Goujian, excavated near Jingzhou and displayed in Wuhan, joins a patterned bronze surface to the name of a ruler of Yue.
In the same city · Wuhan ↗A sword from Wangshan
Reading the owner’s name
Two short lines near the hilt identify the king of Yue, Goujian, and state that the sword was made for his use. The ornamental writing is usually called bird-and-insect script. It gives the blade a named owner across a gap of more than two millennia. A weapon associated with Yue, found in a tomb in Chu territory, also opens questions about how prestigious objects moved between courts.
Two rival royal names
The museum also holds a spear associated by its inscription with Fuchai, king of Wu, excavated in the Jiangling area in 1983. Wu and Yue were rival states, yet weapons bearing their rulers’ names survived far from the places those names first evoke. Looking at an inscription, an excavation location and a modern collection as three separate facts makes the objects more interesting than treating them as interchangeable ancient weapons.