Page 124 - Deydier UNDERSTANDING CHINESE ARCHAIC BRONZES

The Cicada Motif 蟬紋
The cicada 蟬 first appeared as a decorative motif in ancient China in
the form of jade. The earliest presently known jade cicada belong to
the Liangzhu cultural period 良渚文化 (circa 3400 – 2250 B.C.) of the
Yangtze River Delta 長江下游. By the late Shang period the cicada began
appearing on bronze ritual vessels and continued to be prominent in
the repertoire of decorative motifs throughout the Zhou dynasty.

For the ancient Chinese, the cicada 蟬 signified purity, righteousness
and incorruptibility for, after remaining hidden for many years in
damp, muddied earth, cicada emerge pure and unsallied from the mud
to be transformed into wing-borne creatures that rise high among the
trees of the forest. There, the ancient Chinese believed they partook of
the morning dew and other superior forms of nourishment. Their very
act of physical transformation also made them, for the ancient Chinese,
a tangible symbol of rejuvenation as well as a symbol of a return to life
after death and also, it was believed, endowed them with the ability to
serve as intermediaries between the world of humans and the denizens
of the netherworld.

Some modern Chinese scholars feel that the appearance of the cicada
motif on ancient ritual bronzes was also meant to signify to the
participants in ritual worship ceremonies, not only the purity and high
quality of the vessels’ food or beverage contents, but also the sacred
character of the cicada as an intermediary between the worshippers
and the spirits and ancestors being worshipped. This latter role of the
cicada was later reflected in the late Eastern Zhou and Han periods’
custom of placing a jade cicada on the tongue of the deceased before
burial and their entry into the realm of the ancestors.

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Cicada motif, detail of the ding, Shang dynasty, Yinxu period (circa 14 –
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12 /11 centuries B.C.) – Meiyintang Collection n° 69.
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