The Shang Dynasty has been more than three thousand years ago, distant and mysterious. The Civilization of the Shang Dynasty is not only famous for its solemn bronzes, but also for its many jade artifacts.
Late Shang Dynasty Panlong ring
The famous aesthetician Mr. Li Zehou once described the bronze ware of the Shang Dynasty as a fierce beauty, so the jade of the Shang Dynasty should be called a mysterious beauty."
Late Shang Dynasty Double Dragon Head God Face Pattern Huang
| Shang Dynasty jade was a special product of the nobility |
If the Shang Dynasty was preceded by the "Shenyu Era", then in the Shang Dynasty, Chinese jade entered the "Wang Yu Era". At this stage, Chinese society has undergone a transformation from primitive society to slave society, the social form has undergone tremendous changes, social life has also changed, jade has stepped off the altar and entered social life, but it is not ordinary people who can be in close contact with it, it is only the special product of the emperor and the general, the prince and the noble.
Late Shang Dynasty Yu Chun
The Shang Dynasty has completed the social division of handicrafts and agriculture, the jade industry has become an independent handicraft production department, and a large number of jade workers with high artistic standards have emerged. This is reflected in the historical records, and the Book of Yizhou says: "The King of Fanwu captured the old jade billion and had millions." This number may be exaggerated, but it can be seen that the possession of Shang Dynasty jade was very large. In the early Shang Dynasty, jade artifacts were not found much, and the craftsmanship was relatively rough.
Late Shang Dynasty Jade Dragon
The jade of the late Shang Dynasty is represented by the jade excavated from the tomb of Yin Xu in Anyang, Henan, with a total of 755 pieces of jade unearthed, which can be divided into six categories according to the use of ceremonial utensils, ceremonial guards, tools, living utensils, ornaments and miscellaneous utensils. One of the sixty-four concubines of the Shang king Wuding, Nühao was deeply favored by Wuding, and her name appeared as many as 170 times in the oracle bones. Wu Ding reigned for 59 years, the southern conquest of the northern war, across the world, the woman often helped her husband to go out on the expedition, according to the oracle bone records, when Wu Ding cut qiang, the woman Hao led an army of 13,000 people to help the war, she even expeditioned to the northwestern tufang country. Due to the favor of King Wu, after the death of The Woman, the King of Wu buried a large amount of jade as wealth for the Woman. This provides the best evidence for the merchants' idea of jade as a precious treasure.
Late Shang Dynasty Jade Bird
| The Xia Dynasty began to use bronze tools to make jade |
Xia Dynasty people have begun to use a small number of bronze tools to make jade, with the improvement of bronze smelting technology in the Shang Dynasty, jade workers use a large number of bronze tools, making a qualitative progress in jade making technology, and the efficiency has also been greatly improved. At this time, the jade workers have been able to skillfully integrate line carving, relief carving, circular carving, and through carving, which greatly increases the visual three-dimensional sense.
Late Shang Dynasty Jade beast noodles
At the same time, the jade shape of this period was also greatly enriched, and there were ceremonial vessels such as jade, qun, zhang, bi, gui, and huang that imitated bronze; Honor guards used for goe, spears, qi, knives, etc.; Animal and character jade greatly exceed geometric jade, jade dragons, phoenixes, tigers, bears, eagles, fish, turtles, turtles, parrots and other animal pieces, with different looks, the shape of the god Bixiao; The jade man, standing, kneeling, or sitting, has a variety of postures, whether it is a master, a slave, a prisoner, can be distinguished one by one. "Many of them are unprecedented new instrument types, the most worth mentioning is the jade, its use is to pull the bow and archery to protect the fingers of the hooker, can be said to be the Spring and Autumn Warring States period of the tan shape pendant, the Han Dynasty heart pendant, the Qing Dynasty of the wrench of the predecessor."
Late Shang Dynasty Jade Rabbit
| The Yuyu people are the earliest living ring jade |
The Shang Dynasty was already able to make living ring jade, and the earliest living ring jade in China appeared. At the level of craftsmanship, Shang Dynasty jade has also been innovated. The Yuyu people excavated from the Xingan Shang Tomb in Jiangxi have a ring chain composed of three living rings behind their heads, which is the earliest living ring jade in China. At the same time, the Shang Dynasty also appeared in China's earliest beautiful jade, that is, the jade turtle excavated from the tomb of the woman in Anyang, Henan, the turtle armor part is inky black, the other part is gray and white, the color of the utensils is clear, the image is realistic, and the pretty color is almost the same as the real turtle, which can be described as ingenious.
Late Shang Dynasty Jade Bear
Shang Dynasty jade with its long history, unique cultural connotations, and strong mysterious color is widely favored and sought after by collectors in the collectibles market.
Late Shang Dynasty Jade fish
| Shang Dynasty jade imitations flooded |
Due to its age, the amount of authentic jade from the Shang Dynasty is small, and imitations on the market are flooded. Identification should start from the five aspects of material, work, type, grain and Qin. Jade should be used as a standard for the collection of the museum, understand the characteristics and scope of jade materials used in the Shang Dynasty, at least to understand the jade commonly used in modern imitations, for example, a piece of jade is Qinghai material at a glance, then it will certainly not be the Shang Dynasty, because the history of these materials is nearly twenty or thirty years.
If there is no condition, at least understand the processing technology of modern jade, such as more cracks in the yin carved line, white powder drilled, and the basic modern imitation with regular spiral patterns; On the shape and ornamentation, we should look at the physical objects or pictures with exact excavation basis, understand the characteristics and styles of the Shang Dynasty jade, such as the artifacts cloned by the jade kneeling people excavated from the tomb of the woman, and the Han Dynasty ornaments that appear on the Shang Dynasty style jade can be basically determined to be imitations; Qin color is the change in color quality produced by the qin dyeing of the connected substance after the jade is buried, so it is necessary to look at the museum collection more, be careful of artificial dyeing and imitations made of the parts of the jade that are naturally subject to qin or the skin.