Page 57 - The Arts of China, By Michael Sullivan Good Book

perfect a fusion ofform and decoration. Gone too is the coarse but
imposing strength of the early middle Chou. These Hsin-chcng
bronzes represent a restless period of transition before the flower-
ing of the refined art of the Warring States.
Reliable archaeological evidence on thejade of the early and mid- JADE
die Chou is scanty but constantly increasing with new finds. Be-
fore the Second World War, archaeologists working at Hsin-ts'un
in Hsiin-hsien (Honan) discovered a number ofjade objects which
were for the most part rather crude versions of Shang types, with
the relief carving often confined to shallow incisions on a flat sur-
face. Since 1950, excavations have tended to confirm the impres-
sion that there was a decline in the craft in the early Western Chou.
But the Chou jades excavated under controlled conditions still
represent a minute proportion of the total number; this, com-
bined with the likelihood that the traditional forms must have per-
sisted for long periods without change, and that when buried,
jades may. already have been treasured antiques, makes the dating
of individual pieces extremely difficult. 1
There is less doubt, fortunately, about the meaning and func-
tion of the ritual and funeraryjades. According to the Chou-li (and
there is no reason to doubt its reliability) certain shapes were ap-
propriate to particular ranks. The king in audience, for example,
held a chen-kuei, a broad, flat, perforated sceptre; a duke held a huan
(ridged sceptre); a prince a hsin (elongated sceptre); an earl a kung
(curved sceptre); while the lower ranks of viscount and baron held
pi discs decorated with the little bosses known as the "grain pat-
tern." Proclamations were issued withjade objects to indicate the
royal authority—as, for instance, the ya-chang (a long knife) for
mobilising the imperial garrison, a hu (tiger) in two halves for
transmitting military secrets, a yen-kuei (sceptre with concave
butt) for protecting official envoys, and so on. Equally specific
were the jades used to protect the body at burial, numbers of
which have been found in their original positions in the grave.
Generally, the corpse lay on his back (a change from Shang prac-
tice). On his chest was placed a pi disc, symbol of heaven; beneath
4H Rrnial and fiineriryjidcs: I, kuri;
I. pi;j. Hung; 4. ya-chang,
5. ytn-kuei, 6. hung; 7. thang, 8. Hon.

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