Page 34 - Chinese Decorative Arts: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 55, no. 1 (Summer, 1997)
P. 34
Animals the chinese
Twelve of he twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac representations of them were customarily
Zodiac (rat, ox, tiger, hare, dragon, serpent, placed in tombs during the Tang dynasty, and
horse, sheep, monkey, cock, dog, and pig) are their frequency is attributed to the fascination of
.........................................................................
as
Qing dynasty, l9th century best known today prognosticators capable the Tang court with divination and astrology.
of futures or fall into three basic
Nephrite predicting people's determining Early representations
their characters. These have a of the animals themselves, those
H. each approx. 2 in. (5.1 cm) symbols long types: images
Gift ofHeber R. Bishop, 1902 history in China, and there has been much held by humans, and hybrids such as these
if
speculation regarding their relationship, any, examples. The hybrids were the most com-
02.18.730 (a-l)
to a similar cycle common to the Turkic people mon of the Tang-period figures. Despite the
of Central Asia. By the fourth century B.C. continued importance of the twelve in Chinese
the animals were well established in Chinese culture, few sets are known in the fine arts
thought and had been paired with the twelve after the Tang dynasty. This later jade group
"earthly branches" in a system that combined may reflect the revival of mythology, astrology,
twelve "earthly branches" and ten "heavenly divination, and the occult in Chinese thought
stems" to form a cycle of sixty. It remains in during the nineteenth century. A renewed
use today as a way of counting the years and interest in the magical properties jade is also
of
marking other measurements. characteristic of this period and may help
Although references to the duodenary explain the reappearance of this motif in
appear early in Chinese history, images of Chinese lapidary art of the time. DPL
the twelve animals are first found in ceiling
paintings from a tomb dated 533. Pottery
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