Sword of Goujian

The Sword of Goujian (traditional Chinese: 越王勾踐劍; simplified Chinese: 越王勾践剑; pinyin: Yuèwáng Gōujiàn jiàn) is a bronze jian renowned for its unusual sharpness, intricate design of black rhombic etchings and resistance to tarnish rarely seen in extant artifacts of a similar age. Discovered in 1965 in an ancient tomb in Hubei, the sword is identified through the inscriptions on its blade as having been made and owned by Goujian (r. 496-465 BCE), one of the last kings of Yue during the Spring and Autumn period. The sword is known as one of the earliest surviving examples of ancient Chinese sword craft that utilized complex metallurgical techniques and it is considered one of the most important objects held in the Hubei Provincial Museum.