Tibetan style pierced saddle plate
With designs of four dragons in scrollwork around a "wish-granting-jewel"
17th century armored vest
An extremely rare sleeveless vest from the Ming-Qing transition period.
Fangshi officer's saber
With a good blade and a set of fittings that exceed the quality of most of this period.
Early yútóudāo
With influences from several cultures that are rarely seen on a single blade.
Chinese Shan presentation dha
Presented by the local Dai nobility to a British customs officer in 1936.
Early militia jian
An early Chinese militia jiàn most likely dating from the Ming.
Chinese forked mace
A forked mace with cast ornament in the middle of the cross guard.
Large Southern Chinese saber
Built around a beautifully forged blade, in full polish, revealing a burl grain pattern.
An antique chángdāo
Its large blade is of ridged cross-section, inspired by the Japanese design.
Early Chinese duǎndāo
With rare downward curving grip as seen on artwork of the 17th and 18th centuries.
Chinese bronze mace (tóngjiǎn)
With large dragon head collar piece.
Republican period fighting jian
A very nice and complete example, circa 1920's-30's.
A rare Qing bow
With translucent horn bellies glued on red pigment.
A rare Jinchuan sword
A royal sword from the Wasi kingdom in present-day Sichuan province.
A Chinese bow by Changxing
Rare extant work of a famous workshop in Chengdu.
A 17th century Manchu saber
A massive 17th century saber blade with markings in Manchu and Chinese.
Chinese crescent moon weapons
Unusual set of paired Chinese maces of good workmanship.
Niuweidao with Guangxu mark
Dated 1895. Large and heavy, a quality piece.
An exceptionally large dadao
With a wide clipped tip with notched upper edge.
Antique wide bladed hudiedao
Introduction
The hudiedao (蝴蝶刀), are a type of double swords peculiar to the port cities of so
Village militia dadao
Description
A large Chinese double handed falchion of a form that is both related to the niuweidao
A Chinese hook sword
A rather well-made example of its type.
A Yi / Lolo sword
Introduction
The Yi or Nuosuo people are known as Lolo in early Western ethnographic writings.
Chinese jade handled dagger
It has a solid pale green jade hilt that is fitted to a silver collar-piece.
Chinese double shortswords
A good set of the first half of the 19th century, with large and rather heavy, forge folded blades.
Antique Chinese saber fittings
Description
An antique set of scabbard fittings for a Chinese saber, probably second half of the 18th centu
Rare iconographic Mongolian style knife
Introduction
Many Mongols, the Khalkas in particular, had close ties with the Manchu ruling elite during th
Antique Chinese jian
A fine Chinese straightsword blade, of typical Qing form with a rather wide profile.
Republican jian with etched blade
Description
A large and rather interesting Chinese jian dating from the Chinese Republican period.
Late Qing southern saber
With differential heat-treatment, creating a cloudy crystalline effect along the edge.
Republican duanjian with good blade
Description
An unusual piece: Jian with these mountings are usually of the long type, often with a soft ste
Two pierced guards
Japanese designs derived off "canton tsuba".
Chinese openwork (loukong) saber guard
The archetypical Chinese sword guard of the 17th century.
Ancient Ba-Shu dagger
From approximately the 5th to 3rd century B.C.
Antique Chinese bronze mace
Introduction
Chinese civilian martial artists used a wide variety of weapons.
Chinese trousse with inlaid iron mounts
Background
Sets with a knife and chopsticks -and sometimes some other utensils- were common all over the Qi
Qing dynasty hunter's powder flask
Introduction
The elite of the Qing dynasty was Manchu, who before taking over China from the Ming lived in
Early Qing saber
A rare Chinese officer's saber of the 17th century.
Chinese tiger fork
Introduction
Chinese "tiger forks" or hǔchā (虎叉) are one of the classic weapons in
Illustrated Encyclopedia of Things Chinese, 1719
Description
A Japanese volume from the 唐土訓蒙圖彚 or "Illustrated Encyclopedia of Things Chinese", it was publi
Chinese sword breaker
With tapering blade, hollow ground on each side to make the edges slightly sharper.
Chinese repeating crossbow
Perhaps one of the most famous and long-lived of Chinese weapons.
Excellent Qing officer saber
Introduction
The yaodao, literally "waist saber" was the standard side-arm for the Qing dynasty mi
A Sirdan, or Manchu war arrow
This large and imposing type of war arrow is often compared to a small spear.
Ming dynasty saber blade
Introduction
The Chinese saber comes in a great variety of curvatures, profiles, and with different combina
Peidao in iron fangshi mounts
Introduction
The terms peidao or yaodao are synonyms that were in use simultaneously in Q
A fine Chinese yànchìdāo
It comes with its complete set of fittings in a thick gauge of báitóng.
Chinese sword with Qianlong reign mark
Introduction
This sword is part of a group of very similar swords.
Southern Chinese saber
Introduction
The yaodao, literally "waist saber" was the standard side-arm for the Qing dynasty mi