玉雕礼器，长条形，两边弧圆，下宽上窄，刃面斜磨而成。器顶对接端边缘厚直，一侧为斜肩，应为固定手柄。器孔从两面钻成，两侧边缘内均有钻痕。此器精细打磨，光泽明焕，呈黄绿色，局部带黑、褐和米色脉络状沁。
长：14.5厘米
来源：
Robert H. Ellsworth，纽约。
展览：
伦敦，2016年，埃斯卡纳齐。
出版：
Christie’s, New York, The Collection of Robert Hatfield Ellsworth Part III – Chinese Works of Art: Qing Ceramics, Glass and Jade Carvings, 19 March 2015, number 466.
Eskenazi Ltd., Early Chinese art from a private collection, London, 2016, catalogue number 4.
类似例子：
Hamada Kosaku, Yuchikusai zo kogyoku fu, (Early Chinese Jades in the Collection of the Late Riichi Uyeno), Tokyo, 1925, plate 4, number 6, also with a sloping shoulder at the butt end.
Mou Yongkang et al. ed., Zhongguo yuqi quanji 1, Yuanshishehui, (Chinese Jades, Early Cultures, volume 1), Shijiazhuang, 1992, page 27, number 33, for a larger jade axe with two apertures, of the Dawenkou culture, from Dadunzi village, Pi county, Jiangsu province, now in the Nanjing Museum collection.
Lü Changling, Shandong wenwu jingcui, (A Selection of Shandong Cultural Relics), Beijing, 1996, number 1, for a comparable axe of the Dawenkou culture, excavated in 1972 at Dongjiacun, Zhangqiu county, Shandong province; also, Liu Zhenqing ed., Qi Lu wenhua, dongfang sixiang de yaolan, (Qi Lu Culture: The Cradle of Chinese Thought), Hong Kong, 1996, number 16.
此类玉钺在中国早期文化中明显是为礼器之用，在主人生前作为权力和地位的象征，在主人死后则是陪葬品的重要成分。据Jessica Rawson研究，“长方形的钺在大汶口文化和山东江苏的龙山文化遗址中都被发现，并且在更南方的良渚文化遗址群中也有出土”。1 参见上述书中所提到的浙江余杭反山遗址中一处良渚文化墓葬，那里出土了一件玉钺和二十四件石钺，前者置放于墓主身旁，后者置放于其脚部。
大英博物馆名为“来自上海的珍宝，中国古代青铜器和玉器”的展览中曾展示一件出土于上海青浦福泉山良渚文化遗址的玉钺和相应的配件，包括柄部上下端的玉雕件。2
1Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, page 171.
2Jessica Rawson ed., Treasures from Shanghai, Ancient Chinese Bronzes and Jades, London, 2009, number 7.