Fenghuanggang in Xicun, Guangzhou City, unearthed jade dancers
The Jade Dancer is probably one of the most special pendants in ancient China.
Its theme is limited to young women in dance, and the popular time is only between the end of the Warring States and the 300 years of the Han Dynasty, and like the rise of the Han Dynasty, the popular time is indeed not long.
Luoyang Jincun unearthed double conjoined jade dancers
Tianchang City Anle Beigang Han Tomb Group unearthed Jade Dancers
Han Dynasty jade dancer, tomb of King Chu of Dongdong Mountain was excavated
Jade Dancer of the Han Dynasty, Collection of the National Museum of the United States
Although as early as prehistory, the ancients have used jade to make character images, the Shang Dynasty and the Western Zhou Dynasty and there are a lot of female jade people, solemn in shape, stiff posture, it seems that it is not exactly a real character, some also added some imaginary details, it is still difficult for us to explain the meaning of these characters.
The meaning of the jade dancers in the Han Dynasty is almost straightforward, the theme itself is secular, and the shape is more secular, which may be one of the earlier secular themes of ancient Chinese jade.
Xianggang Nanyue King Tomb unearthed Jade Dancer
Western Han Dynasty Double Jade Dancer, Lion Mountain Chu King Tomb unearthed it does not have a special meaning like The Weary Shengpei, nor does it mark the social hierarchy like the Jade Huang on the Western Zhou Group, it may just be an aesthetic fashion, with a strong secular style. Not only was it exclusive to the royal family and the aristocracy, but it was also popular among the emerging landowners and wealthy merchants.
Xuzhou Shiqiao Han tomb unearthed Jade dancer
The tomb of Dou Xuan, the wife of King Jing of Zhongshan in Mancheng, was unearthed as a jade dancer
Ganquan "Concubine Moshu" tomb unearthed Jade dancer
Han Dynasty jade dancer crystal agate bead ornament
It is made of dancers, cicadas, bottles, flower buds, bead-shaped jade ornaments, crystal and agate beads.
It was scattered on the chest of the owner of the tomb when it was excavated, and was restored according to the location of the excavation. The tomb of Dou Xuan, a Han tomb in Mancheng, Hebei, was excavated. Collection of Hebei Provincial Museum.
Jade dancers are generally hung as pendants on necklaces or pendants, individuals are small, mostly flattened, there are also a few round carving works, most of which are not more than 5cm high, and few are only about 2cm high, with a graceful posture, exquisite and cute.
Dabaotai No. 2 Han Tomb unearthed Jade Dancer
The theme of the Jade Dancer was only popular in the hundreds of years from the Warring States to the Western Han Dynasty, and was related to the rise of court dance music at that time. These jade dancers from different times and places have different skill levels and modeling techniques, among which the jade dancers excavated from the tomb of The Concubine Moshu in Yangzhou have a graceful posture and concise lines, which can be called the classic techniques of the plastic arts of the Han Dynasty. The dancers are all made of jade, and no other materials have been seen in the excavated materials.
The earliest jade dancers are from the Warring States Tombs, and the jade dancers now in the Freer Museum in the United States are rumored to be from the Eastern Zhou Tianzi Cemetery in Luoyang Jincun, which was collected locally by the American Charles Lang Freer in the 1920s.
The jade dancers of the Han Dynasty unearthed more information, which can be seen in the south and the north, most of them are simple in shape, elegant in posture, and the shape system and knife skills are all in the style of "Han Eight Knives".
Collection of the Sackler Museum, 9.6 cm high and 3.4 cm wide
Collection of the Sackler Museum, 8 cm high and 3.5 cm wide
Collection of the Sackler Museum, 9 high and 3 .8cm wide
Collection of the Sackler Museum, 6.3 cm high and 3.2 cm wide
Collection of the Sackler Museum, 4 cm high and 2.5 cm wide
Harvard Art Museum collection, height 4.3, width 1.9 cm
Collection of Wulian County Museum, height 4.1, thickness 0.2 cm
Collection of Hebei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics, height 4.3, width 2.4 cm
Collection of Dingzhou Museum, height 4.5cm
Jiangxi Provincial Museum Collection, height 5.2, width 1 .6cm
Collection of The Nanyue Royal Relics of the Western Han Dynasty in Guangzhou, height 3.2, width 1.9cm
Huainan Museum Collection, height 5.8, width 1.5cm
Xi'an Municipal Institute of Cultural Relics Protection and Archaeology, 5 meters high, 1 .6cm wide
Some places have also unearthed works that are relatively clumsy in shape and knife skills, such as the Han Tomb No. 43 in Dingxian County, Hebei Province, which focuses on a pair of jade dancers unearthed from ancient jade insects, which are slightly clumsy and rough, but also have another interest, speculating that local craftsmen imitated the mainstream works of the time.
Inner Mongolia Ordos City, Zunger Banner of the Xiongnu noble tomb once unearthed a pair of jade dancers, with dragon, tiger theme of the carved white jade decoration 42 pieces together, the theme and construction method are the works of the Central Plains, speculated to be the product of the Central Plains and relatives, the same period of Inner Mongolia Baotou unearthed "Shan Yu He Qin" wadang, and another he pro brick, there are seal Chinese characters "Shan Yu He Qin, Long Live thousands of autumns, Happy Wei Yang".
The rise of the jade dancer theme is not unrelated to the trend of "liturgy collapse and bad music" since the Warring States and the dominance of the nations. The "Book of Rites and Music" has the story of Wei Wenhou's good ancient music, the founder of the century-old hegemony of the Wei kingdom, who was dressed neatly and wei was sitting and wanted to pay attention to the public number Gu Yu Worm smoked in ancient Music, but before the music was finished, he was already drowsy, so he said to Confucius's student Zi Xia: "If I listen to ancient music with my crown, I will only be afraid to lie down, and listen to the sound of Zheng Wei, and I will not be tired."
He said that as soon as he listened to the ancient music, he always wanted to sleep, and when he heard Zheng Wei's voice, he did not feel tired at all. The ancient music mentioned by Wei Wenhou was the Western Zhou court music, which was used for temple sacrifice songs and dances, and the "Sound of Zheng Wei", a folk song and dance, was denounced by Confucius as an "obscene sound", but it just met the hedonistic requirements of the princes of the nations for worldly sentiments.
Although Zixia immediately defended Yale, the Book of Han and Li Lezhi still said: "In the end, I will not see Na, and since then Li Le has died." Folk songs and dances eventually arose and gagaku was abolished.
The jade dancer excavated from the tomb of the King of Nanyue in Guangzhou is in the collection of the Museum of the King of Nanyue
Round sculpture, kneeling position, with a hole in the top of the head running through the bottom. Height 3.5cm, width 3.5cm, thickness 1cm. The West Ear Chamber of the Tomb of the King of Nanyue was excavated, and when it was excavated, there were fabric indentations on the face of the jade people, which may have been silk for wearing. Round carved jade dancers are rare. This work has a beautiful shape and delicate craftsmanship, using a variety of techniques such as yin carving and land reduction.
The court music and dances of the Western Han Dynasty dancer Yu Pei Lieguo, which had the nature of folk dances, eventually replaced the temple music that was used as a ceremonial symbol in the Western Zhou Dynasty. There are scenes of court music and dance on the Warring States bronze ware, and the Warring States Wrong Gold and Silver Feast Fishing Hunting Battle Bronze Pot unearthed in Baihuatan, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, the middle part is a pair of moving court banquets and dancing scenes.
In the Han Dynasty, "Gao Zu Le Chu Sheng", Han Gao Zu Liu Bang was the first to introduce the Chu Dance originating from the national witch dance into the palace to become a court music dance, and these feast scenes were more preserved in the Han Dynasty portrait stone.
At this time, the song and dance was no longer the "Eight Dances" of ceremonial dignity, gagaku and ming above the court of the Western Zhou Dynasty, but a secular feast with a hedonistic mood, and the long-sleeved dancers who were good at dancing were no longer symbols of etiquette, but became objects of appreciation, and their graceful dance posture was fixed in the beautiful jade with a delicate texture.
Western Han Dynasty White Jade Dancer Pei, Yongcheng County, Excavated from the Han Tomb of Yanshan, Henan Zhengzhou Museum