(Continued from the previous issue) And then to the Introduction Chapter of the Characteristic Jade of the Liaojin Period, as the same is the nomadic jade production, perhaps the jade craftsmen are the same group, but the Liao was destroyed by the Jin to serve the Jin people again, Chunshui and Qiushan are the essence of the Liaojin jade, but also a very noteworthy theme, but the text of this theme I wrote too much, interested can read the words I have written before, there is no new imagination space, this time I pick representative items, simply share it with you.
First, the historical and cultural background of the Liaojin period
An important part of the Liao Dynasty was the Khitan Dynasty, which was an enterprising and open nation that created a distinctive culture through close exchanges with the Central Plains and the West.
The Khitan adopted a policy of governing according to customs, "governing the Khitan with the state system and treating the Han people with the Han system." It also imitated the Han system to implement the imperial examination and formulate a written code. As already introduced in the previous article, they were greatly influenced by Han culture, and according to the side of Chinese characters, they created Khitan big characters and Khitan small characters, and they also loved painting, advocating the construction of Buddhist temples and pagodas, making the culture of the Liao Dynasty quite prosperous.
As a nomadic people influenced by the agricultural civilization, they still retain their animal husbandry, and even after unifying Hebei and northern Shanxi, they still retain traditional animal husbandry and living habits outside Of Sai.
Its animal husbandry is mainly based on grazing horses and sheep, and every year from April to August, the livestock naturally follow the water and grass, and in September, the herd is driven back to the winter pasture to protect the overwintering, which is a big step forward from the natural grazing form of the previous generation of nomads.
The Khitans created the technique of chiseling ice fishing in the harsh winter, and to this day, many ethnic groups in northeast China still use this ancient fishing method.
The Khitans, as nomadic peoples of the steppe, loved to hunt and used the well-trained falcon falcon, which we call "Haidongqing" or Falcon.
In addition, the royal family also domesticated cheetahs, and these customs are still passed down in some peoples in the Middle East, that is, from the hunting of animals in hunting. After the founding of the Liao State, in order to maintain the hunting tradition of the nomadic peoples, the emperor and nobles hunted around every four seasons every year, called "four time bowls". 捺钵 is a Khitan word meaning the emperor's camp. Whenever the bowl was thrown, all Khitan ministers, large and small, internal and external ministers, had to accompany them, and the pomp and circumstance was unprecedented.
Khitan agriculture and industry and commerce were also developed, and farmers, craftsmen and merchants were mostly Han Chinese, Bohai and Western Chinese. Crops include wheat, millet, rice, millet, etc., and handicrafts include iron knives, saddles, porcelain, gold and silverware, furs, silk, etc.; these products were quite popular in khitans, Song, Western Xia and Eurasian countries.
The eastern part of the Inner Mongolian steppe is the birthplace of the Khitan and the central region of its rule after the founding of the state. The Khitan tribe left a large number of precious relics and cultural relics here, which became a symbol of grassland civilization.
Chunso and Qiumi were the twice-yearly hunting activities of the Liao Dynasty royals, combining sacrifices and song and dance entertainment activities, called bowls in Khitan language.
The founder of this activity was the Liao Dynasty, and it was continued until the Jin Dynasty, when the Jurchens had not yet established the country, and when they submitted to the Khitans, they inherited the bowl system, and after the founding of the country, they were renamed Chunshui and Qiushan, which became an important activity of the Jurchen royal court and canonization.
Jade made from this theme began to be collectively referred to as Chunshui jade and Qiushan jade in the Jin Dynasty.
The Jin Dynasty was a local ethnic regime established by the Jurchens, bounded by the Huai and Han Dynasties, and confronted the Southern Song Dynasty for more than a hundred years. The jade culture is deeply influenced by the Han culture and the Buddhism that it believes in, and integrates the culture of the predecessors and forms its own unique style.
2. The source of Spring Water Jade and Qiushan Jade in the Liaojin Period
Chunshui and Qiushan are popular art themes of the Jurchen people, the content comes from real life, there are vast worlds, infinite visions and natural creations.
Although it is by no means the same as the traditional jade ceremonial vessel, it has been summarized and refined through art, depicting a vivid and passionate jade painting, reflecting the national goodness of the Jurchen people and its living mood, reaching the supreme realm of the unity of form and god, and has a unique artistic style.
Jin Dynasty jade mainly includes decorative jade, Xiaosheng jade, jade pictures, and utensils for daily life.
As a symbol of the aristocratic status of the Jin Dynasty, jade mainly refers to decorative jade, the most typical and characteristic is the jade pendant, which the Jurchen people call "Lieling", which is only one of them.
The shape and ornamentation of jade pendants generally use deer, birds, geese, cranes, dragons, phoenixes, pigeons, fish, flower branches, flower buds, flowers and leaves. The more exquisite ones are the Ribbon Street Flower Jade Pendant and the Turtle Nest Lotus Leaf Jade Pendant.
Third, the Jin Dynasty jade turtle nest lotus leaf jade pendant appreciation points
The turtle nest lotus leaf jade pendant of the Jin Dynasty is mostly made of green jade, in the shape of a flat sheet, and is made of various techniques such as hollowing, relief, and inscription.
The front side is slightly curled and concave with single or double lotus leaves, and the center of the flower leaves is carved with a crawling turtle, supplemented by lotus flowers, aquatic plants, mushroom leaves, etc.; the back is often carved with longitudinal and horizontal lotus stems and aquatic weeds, forming a "turtle nest lotus leaf" Shouyi jade pendant.
The shape is stretched generously, the technique is realistic, and the image is realistic.
From this jade pendant, we can see some basic features of the Jin Dynasty jade, the Jin Dynasty jade has no large pieces, most of them are flat flakes of ornaments.
Pay attention to symmetry. Manifested in the combination, jade is mostly paired or combined to wear; manifested in the composition, the pattern is symmetrical, the ornaments reflect each other, there is a sense of calmness, and the decorative ornamental jade and the practical plain jade coexist.
Both through-carved and embossed jade, most of the edges are jagged or wavy, and the edges are less straight.
A large number of negative engraving lines are used to make the plane convex, the texture is clear, and the composition is plump and three-dimensional.
There are many double-sided carvings, and there are also various carving techniques such as land reduction, excavation, and bulging.
The artistic theme of turtle nest lotus leaves is a traditional Chinese form, but the turtle nest lotus leaves of the Jin Dynasty have their own ideas.
The artistic techniques and artistic conceptions of jade carving are extremely similar to those of the two Song Dynasties. The combination of realism and abstraction vividly depicts the scenery of nature with realistic techniques, and shows a higher artistic situation with abstract expression techniques.
Fourth, Liaojin jade spring water Qiushan jade appreciation points
Spring water jade reflects the scene of people going to the swamp to catch swans in the spring when the earth is thawing and warming up.
The pattern is composed of lotus leaves, lotus flowers, aquatic weeds and other themes, and the common ones are cranes grabbing goose heads, crane catching swans wearing lotuses, storks grabbing swans wearing lotuses, and swans wearing lotuses.
The methods of showing the plot of the fight between the crane and the swan are: the crane hunting the goose, the falcon chasing the goose, the crane fighting the goose, the crane catching the goose, the crane grabbing the goose head, etc., collectively known as the "crane catching swan diagram", such as a swan neck drilled under the water weeds, a crane wants to eat the swan brain and so on.
Akiyama jade shows that before the autumn ice is frozen, people go to the forest to hunt animals such as tiger deer as reserve food.
The motifs are mostly themed by tigers, deer, bears, eagles and other animals and birds, as well as mountain stones and oak trees. The atmosphere of tranquility and harmony is often presented by the double deer of the tulip tree. The pattern structure includes tiger and deer coexisting, or storing deer to go to tiger, or orange tree hidden tiger, and the mountain forest deer pattern is the most common.
Taking Qiushan jade as an example, although there are complicated and simple, exquisite and coarse, the performance is not as exquisite as chunshui jade, but the production process is commendable:
First, the expression of his deer is extremely rich, paying special attention to the performance of muscle bulges, making the style of the work appear rough and tough;
Second, the multi-directional punching and pipe drilling and hollowing method is adopted, so that the work has multiple levels of changes, and the transparent carving part leaves diamond marks;
Third, often leave ochre jade skin, clever autumn color;
Fourth, we pay great attention to the pursuit of accurate anatomical proportion relationships, and can achieve a natural look, vivid expressions, and give people a real and intimate feeling.
Below my free promotion of the text column series, there is also a special identification method introduction course, if you feel that my text for you from the perspective of history and culture, learning the identification of jade is of great help, you can click on the link below the course, not only have a variety of identification methods, but also how to use their own collection, to achieve the dream of storing, 50 courses, only need to forward the subscription successfully, you can also share 50% of the training costs, look at the praise of other students and the catalog of the course, do not hurry to move your fingers, Take action with us.