This form of this spoon may derive from archaic ritual bronze bi 匕 spoons or ladles, dating from the Western Zhou and Eastern Zhou dynasties, which are characterised by similar pointed flat ends. An example of an early Warring States period bronze bi was excavated from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng, illustrated in Zhongguo Qingtongqi Quanji 10: Dongzhou 4, Beijing, 1998, pl.147; another example is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, accession no.24.72.20.|Compare the double rope-twist carved jade handle of the current lot to a group of four similarly carved fluted rings, dated Warring States period, also to a inlaid bronze and jade garment hook with similarly ribbed jade elements, dated late Warring States to Western Han periods, all illustrated by T.Lawton, Chinese Art of the Warring States Period: Change and Continuity, 480–222 B.C., Washington D.C., 1982, figs.125-128 and 71.|These bronze bi spoons, probably descend from Neolithic period spoons made of animal bones with similarly flat and pointed ended 'dagger-shaped' forms. Several of these Neolithic period utensils have been found in deposits throughout China, including one excavated in Peiligang in Quyang, Henan, in 1977, dated 8000-7500 BC. Scholars believe they were used as a tool to cut meat or scoop food from a pot or bowl. See Q.E.Wang, Chopsticks, A Cultural and Culinary History, Cambridge, 2015, pp.18-19.|匕身橢圓形，兩面飾錯金雲雷紋，匕心嵌水滴形玉，一面陰刻鳳鳥紋。柄分為三段，前端較窄，後端呈梯形，柄主體分別由兩鈕紋玉管以及一粗短弦紋玉管組成，間以銅鎏金獸面及梯形扣，柄尾端嵌梯形玉飾，玉飾一面雕獸面紋，工藝緊張，巧奪天工。|此件玉匕形制仿周朝時期青銅匕而製，匕不同於斗或勺，為食器中的攜取器，常在西周及戰國早期的墓葬中出土，見湖北隨州曾侯乙墓出土一件曾侯乙匕，現藏於湖北省博物館，著錄於《中國青銅全集10：東周4》，北京，1998年，圖版147。另見美國紐約大都會博物館藏一件西周青銅匕，博物館編號24.72.20。|美國華盛頓弗瑞爾美術館藏有一組戰國時期的鈕紋玉鐲，其雕刻工藝與此件匕柄上的鈕紋極為相似，見T.Lawton，《Chinese Art of the Warring States Period: Change and Continuity, 480–222 B.C.》，華盛頓，1982年，圖125-128。另參看一件同樣為銅錯金的嵌玉帶扣，時代定為戰國晚期至漢代，同樣藏於弗瑞爾美術館，雖器形不同但帶扣上鑲嵌之短粗形弦紋玉管與此件玉匕柄部類似，見同著錄，圖71。