Everything about Chinese Jade totally explained
Chinese jade is any of the carved-jade objects produced in
China from the
Neolithic Period (c. 3000–1500 BC) onward. The Chinese regarded carved-jade objects as intrinsically valuable, and they metaphorically equated jade with human virtues because of its hardness, durability, and (moral) beauty.
Dynastic history
Jade has been used in virtually all periods of
Chinese history and generally accords with the style of
decorative art characteristic of each period. Thus, the earliest jades, of the Neolithic Period, are quite simple and unornamented; those of the
Shang (18th–12th century BC),
Zhou (1111–255 BC), and
Han (206 BC–AD 220)
dynasties are increasingly embellished with animal and other decorative motifs characteristic of those times; in later periods ancient jade shapes, shapes derived from
bronze vessels, and motifs of
painting were used, essentially to demonstrate the
craftsman's extraordinary technical facility.
Categories
Jade objects of early ages (Neolithic through Zhou) fall into five categories: small decorative and functional ornaments such as
beads,
pendants, and
belt hooks;
weapons and related equipment meant more for ceremonial than for practical use; independent
sculptural forms (especially of real and mythological animals), perhaps used as
talismans; small objects of probably emblematic value, including the
huan (a
braceletlike disk with a large hole), the
huang (a flat, half-ring pendant), the
han (ornaments, often carved in the shape of a
cicada, to be placed in the mouth of the dead), and the
zhang and
gui (flat, bladelike
tablets that served as official
insignia of the owner); and many examples of larger objects — such as the
cong (a hollow cylinder or truncated cone) and the
bi (a flat disk with a hole in its center) — with certain essential shapes that have invited much speculation as to value and function.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Chinese Jade'.
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