Page 50 - The Arts of China, By Michael Sullivan Good Book

and flat plaques in the shape of birds and other creatures pierced at
each end for use as clothing ornaments or pendants.
The finds at Anyang have been incomparably richer in beauty,
workmanship, and range of types than those at Chengchow. They
include plaques in the shape of birds, fishes, silkworms, and ti-
gers; pi discs, tsung tubes, yuan rings, and other ritual objects;
beads, knives, and ceremonial axes. Among the rarest newly dis-
covered pieces are the small kneeling figures of servants or slaves
from the tomb of Fu Hao, which are of particular value for the evi-
dence they offer of dress and hair styles in the early Anyang pe-
riod. The largest find at Anyang—although it is of marble rather
than true jade—was a chime found lying on the floor of the grave
pit at Wu-kuan-ts'un. Cut from a thin slab, pierced for suspension,
and decorated with a tiger in raised thread relief, this impressive
object bears witness to the importance of music in the rituals of
the Shang court.
Not all carving was done in such intractable materials as jade
and marble. Some of the most beautiful of all Shang designs were
carved in bone and ivory. Elephants roamed North China in pre-
historic times and probably were still to be found north of the
Yangtsc in the Shang Dynasty. We know that at least one Shang
emperor kept one as a pet, possibly sent as tribute from Yueh,
J7 Axe-blade. Jade. From Anyang. Late while a plentiful supply ofivory could be had from China's south-
Shang period.
ern neighbours. On plaques of ivory and bone a few inches
square, made presumably as ornaments for chariots, furniture, or
boxes, were carved t'ao-t'ieh and other designs of extraordinary
intricacy and beauty, sometimes inlaid with turquoise. Like the
bronzes, these bone and ivory carvings show striking similarities
with the art of the West Coast Indians of North America. For
years scholars have toyed with the fascinating possibilities that
these similarities have opened up, but as yet no archaeological
connecting links have been found to account for them.

)8 Chime carved with tiger design. }9 Carved bone handle. Excavated at
Stone. From tomb at Wu-kuan-tVun. Anyang.
Anyang. Late Shang period.