加载中…欣赏博物馆馆藏玉器之---大英博物馆馆藏中国玉器[2]
(2008-09-15 14:21:33)
标签：
大英博物馆玉器 |
分类： 虫虫鉴赏 |
Width: 4.000 cm
Jade sword fittings of the Eastern Zhou period (770-221 BC) were part of a tradition that began in the later Western Zhou (1050-771 BC). The use of jade, with its associations of immortality, to ornament weapons may well have been intended to enhance the force and protection afforded by the weapon. Over time, such weapons may have been thought to confer resistance to death and decay, and thus preferred over those with decoration in other materials for use in burials.
The ornament is in the form of a slightly tapered cylindrical drum. A hole for attaching a blade hilt or similar item is drilled up the middle, slightly off centre. The sides are divided into three registers by narrow ridges incised with fine striations.
Fully-developed swords of the late Eastern Zhou and Han periods might have had four or even five jade fittings, such as a round pommel ornament, an approximately triangular hilt decoration, a trapezoidal chape on the scabbard to prevent the weapon tip piercing the body, and slides on the scabbard for the attachment of a belt. Jade sword fittings may have followed the use of gold, as gold hilts for iron blades have been found in tombs in Shaanxi province. Gold was not a material particularly prized by the Chinese - jade and bronze always ranked higher in their hierarchy of valuable materials in early times - and the use of gold was probably introduced into China from Central Asia. The jade workers copied the finely worked gold decoration, technically much harder to achieve by carving in hard stone, than using the lost wax method to cast it in a soft metal. The very fine scroll work on this ornament is particularly reminiscent of gold work. The small striations and stippling are obviously borrowed from work in a soft metal.
Width: 3.000 cm
This arched belt hook is made from silvered and gilt bronze inlaid with jade plaques. Jade was first used to embellish belts and other dress hooks in the seventh and sixth centuries BC, at a time when other luxurious materials such as gold, silver and semi-precious stones were being used to enrich both weapons and belts. Garment hooks of both gold and jade have been discovered in excavations dating to the Eastern Zhou (771-221 BC) and Han periods (206 BC - AD 220). The jade examples appear to be imitatations of those made in gold.
This is an example of a belt hook where jade was used as an inlay, rather than for the complete artefact. It has imaginary animal faces at both ends, and the hook itself is the head of a small creature, its neck drawn down to the animal's head that lies at the top of the main panel. Between the heads the bronze is cast to frame the settings of four rectangular jade plaques with incised taotie (monster faces). These pieces of jade were probably recycled from some older jade artefact that had broken. Two buffaloes lie back to back along the main section of the hook, their bodies in sharply angled planes. Small glass beads cut in half are set at either end.
Width: 3.300 cm (max.)
The people of the Han dynasty (206 BC - AD 220) appear to have believed that jade offered some form of protection in the afterlife so that the deceased might continue to enjoy life after death in the manner in which they had lived life. The orifices of the deceased were plugged with body plugs, and eye pieces placed on the eyes, and cicadas on the tongue. Cicadas have an association with resurrection since they pupate and emerge from underground after about two years.
These cicadas are fairly realistic representations of the insect. Han-dynasty cicadas range from simple, almost unmarked pieces to quite complex representations, as here. They have prominent eyes, boldly cut wings and lobed undersides. Such cicadas were also made at this time in glass (Chinese glass having a certain turbidity which makes it green and jade-like), presumably for those who could not afford jade.
From the Neolithic period in China, objects made of jade were placed in burials in increasing number until they effectively covered the body of the deceased. Some types of jade were made explicitly to cover the head and body: tombs of the middle Western Zhou period (1050-771 BC) have been found where the facial features - eyes, brows, nose and teeth - have been covered with jades sewn on to a textile, forming a sort of veil. At the same time jade pendant sets covered the body from the neck to the knees. Full burial suits of jade, which were made to fit a body precisely, were first made in the Western Han dynasty (206 BC - AD 9). These were restricted by sumptuary laws to royalty. Meanwhile, groups of jades for the head and face only were used in conjunction with them or alone by those not entitled to a suit.
Height: 3.000 cm
Width: 4.400 cm
This small figure is carved in openwork.
His body, shown flying through the air, is turned towards the
viewer, head upright and the upper part of the torso facing
forward. The rest of the body and legs appear more in profile.
Around the head of the figure is looped a large floating scarf. The
figure is fully carved, though flattened, on the
reverse.
The ornament may have been part of a set of
dress or headdress ornaments. The theme of heavenly beings and the
style in which he is represented shows the influence of Central
Asian forms which were introduced to China from kingdoms further
west. Spectacular examples of heavenly beings are found in
paintings in Cave 285 at Dunhuang in Gansu province, dating to the
sixth century. However, although the figure may represent a
Buddhist heavenly being, it is equally possible that it represents
a Daoist Jade Maiden, which frequently feature in literature of
this period.
Width: 7.600 cm
This is an exceptionally well carved example of a type of headdress ornament that was made in a variety of sizes; this one is among the largest. Many Chinese of this period wore their hair on top of their head and crowned the arrangement with a jade ornament of this type. However during the last imperial dynasty of China, the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) men wore their hair in a plait and such head ornaments were no longer used. Many of them were subsequently converted into knobs for lids of bronze vessels.
A powerful coiled dragon emerges from the top of the complex openwork carving, supported on a curved plain underside, which is pierced by two pairs of holes. The body of the creature is embellished with deeply incised lines; a pearl is clasped in its claws. Its uplifted head crowns a convoluted composition in which the dragon body is entwined among cloud tendrils.
Height: 2.800 cm
Length: 8.000 cm
The people of the Han dynasty (206 BC - AD
220) believed that animals, both real and mythical, provided
contact with the spirit world. Some might avert evil, bring good
luck or appear when auspicious events were about to occur. Emperors
and officials lined the approaches to their tombs with large carved
stone animals that would enlist supernatural help to protect them
in the Afterlife. Animal carvings in jade were believed to be
especially powerful, as the material was associated with the
immortals because of its translucency, colour and indestructible
quality.
The carver of this piece has taken
advantage of a narrow oval pebble to show a creature prowling,
menacing the viewer, with its horned head low near the ground. The
general character of the artefact comes close to, but is not
identical with that of a bixie found with four other
creatures at Xianyang near present-day Xi'an, and dated to the Han
period. These were discovered near Weiling, the tomb of the Han
emperor Yuandi (reigned 48-33 BC). Like these other pieces, this
jade is a product of Han interest in the strange and miraculous
creatures that they deemed to be portents and omens.
Length: 20.500 cm
This impressive horse belongs to a small group of carved jade animals, mainly horses and buffaloes, carved on a much larger scale than usual, and all in the same range of green opaque stones. There is no direct evidence to help us define precisely when and for what purpose these large creatures were carved.
The slender and elegantly smooth carving shows the horse lying down, its hind legs tucked under its body. The mane and tail are carefully worked to represent the hair, w
Width: 4.800 cm
This powerful, half-human face has an open jaw with fangs. Veins are incised on the forehead and small bunches of hair encircle the two horns. The back of the head is hollowed out and a central hole pierces the mask vertically. It is not known what the mask was made for, but it could have been a fitting or inlay for some larger item in another material which has not survived.
The face can be compared with tiles from the Xiuding temple pagoda near Qingliang in Henan province, built in the Taizong reign period (AD 624-50) of the Tang dynasty (see Related Objects).
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