Page 136 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

rated surfaces, spherical beads — with their pre-
cisely round contours and brilliant luster — testify
1
to the skill of Liangzhu lapidaries. Although beads
could be carved from lumps of raw jade, they were
more likely made from drill cores or other off-cuts
of larger objects.
Beads are most often found clustered in
burials — sometimes together with plaques and
pendants — as components of necklaces or other
assemblages that were originally strung together.
Determining the original arrangement of dislocated
beads is a formidable, perhaps impossible, task
and all reconstructions are for that reason conjec-
tural. The fact that the beads and the plaque
of this reconstructed necklace were found in close
proximity to one another, for example, does not
necessarily imply that they were strung as part
of a single assemblage. 2
This plaque takes the form of a half disk with
a gently curved and smoothly finished surface.
The carving on the front of the disk, executed in
extremely fine, sunken lines, depicts a human
figure, arms at his side, wearing a feather head-
dress; he appears to be riding on a monster with
large circular eyes, a bar-shaped mouth, and two
clawed feet. Two small holes are drilled near the
straight edge, one in each corner.
Semicircular plaques constitute a standard
3
category among Liangzhu jades. Some are deco-
rated with face motifs and scrollwork, others are
plain-surfaced; several examples are drilled at
the back with connecting holes, which suggests
that they were probably attached or sewn onto
garments of fabric or leather, zs

1 For photographic reproductions, see Zhejiang 1989,
pi. 185; Shanghai 1992, pi. 73, 90.
2 Excavated in 1986 (M 22:8); the beads and plaque are not
recorded in the excavation report (Zheijiang 19883,1-29).
3 Zhejiang 19883, 22, fig. 23; 1988!), 46 - 47, figs. 28, 33 for
photographic reproductions, see Zhejiang 1989, pis. 151,
152,153; Shanghsi 1992, pi. 62.

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