Page 17 - Yangdetang Coollection of Jades November 2017 HK

Lot 2704 We can surmise, therefore, that the Western Chinese prehistoric
拍品 2704 people observed cosmological changes of the four seasons, as well
as those from dawn to dusk. They further contemplated the wax
Lot 2708 and wane of lifeforms, and the permanence and impermanence
拍品 2708 of things, thus developed their unique views of primordial essence
and cosmology. By principle of synesthesia they created jade
Lot 2706 discs and square columns with a central aperture as ritual objects
拍品 2706 in sacrifices, and often buried sets of them in sacrificial pits.
Currently a burial pit with as many as four bi discs and four cong
Lot 2709 was recorded in an excavation in the Jingning area in Gansu.
拍品 2709
In the third millennia B.C., this ‘circular-square cosmology’ and
‘bi-cong ritual practice’ could have spread to the lower course of
the Yangzi river by means of the ‘elite communication network’
between unconnected areas. This caused the people of late
Liangzhu Culture to abandon the previously prevalent ‘embryonic
animal spirits’ theme, and started making tall, multi-sectioned,
square-sided cong, adapted from shamans’ square bangles with
slightly convex sides.

There are many Hongshan Culture examples in the Yangdetang
Collection: the jade silkworm pupa (lot 2702) and the jade dragon (lot
2703) illustrate the embryonic state of insects and reptiles; the jade staff
pommel with animal masks (lot 2705) and the jade ornament with
a toothed animal mask (lot 2704) are clearly decorated with animal
masks; the representational jade bird (lot 2708) and the staff with
abstract bird decoration (lot 2706) are both related to the worship of
the ‘mythical bird’ in the ancient Eastern China area.

There are also some Liangzhu Culture examples of jade bi and
cong (lots 2709, 2710, 2712) in the Yangdetang Collection, with
the latter decorated with animal masks. The Qijia Culture bi (lot
2713) and cong (lot 2714) are classically elegant; and the ‘triple-
huang bi disc’ (lot 2711) have three almost equally-sized jade
components. The author has previously written that the multi-
huang bi discs originated in Qijia Culture, and the design makes
use of the the gaps between the jade parts to denote the radiating
light of the sun, so was possibly related to sun worship. From
the excavations conducted in Shizhaocun and Lajia, it is evident
that the ‘triple-huang bi discs’ were used in ritual worships, not
as ornaments. 3 The late Qijia Culture advanced aggressively
eastward, reaching the present-day Shanxi area. The multi-huang
bi discs excavated in Qingliangsi and Taosi were often made by
joining pieces of jades of diverse sizes and quality, to be used as
wrist ornaments.

Around 2050 B.C., probably as a result of conflicts over the salt
in Xiechi Lake in the Yuncheng Basin, the Shanxi area became
the intersection of Eastern and Western Cultures. As shown on
the map, the convergence of the decorated cong of Eastern China
and the plain cong of Western China gave rise to the jade cong
with vertical incised lines excavated at Qingliangsi: the single
line-drawing in the centre of the map. It was wrongly recorded
to be dated to the earlier Miao’er Culture in 2006, leading many
scholars to believe that it was a by-product of Liangzhu Culture’s
transmission towards the Northwest. Recently it was re-dated by
the excavator to be from Longshan Culture tombs, and no earlier

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