Page 53 - 2020 October 8 HK Fine Classical Paintings

‘HEAVEN AND EARTH A MAGNIFICENT YELLOW JADE VASE’

Dr Hajni Elias

The present vase represents a harmonious blend of technical thus it combines the two significant shapes of a circle and a
prowess and artistic imagination. It is an arresting artefact, square. Cong are amongst the most impressive yet enigmatic
impressive for its use of a large yellow jade boulder that has of all ancient Chinese jade carvings. Although they were
been skilfully fashioned into an object seeped in classical objects that circulated amongst collectors throughout history
symbolism while being contemporary at the same time. The for centuries, their nature and function remain a mystery.
vase is decorated in high relief carving with a large dragon and The Chinese in ancient times considered Heaven to be round
eight small chilong climbing amongst ruyi-form clouds over and Earth to be square, and the two together were compared
and around a conjoined cong and cylinder embedded in rocks to the round umbrella-like form of the canopy and square body
above cresting waves. The beauty of the pale yellow jade is of the chariot. Heaven thus became the dome that covered
made prominent by its smooth patina and the use of its natural the flat Earth. This cosmological perspective, known as the
russet fissures that have been skilfully incorporated into the ‘Canopy Heaven (gaitian)’, was also used to explain how
design. celestial bodies turned around the celestial pole in daily orbits
The use of two distinct geometric shapes, the circle in the in a plane parallel to the earth’s surface. 2
form of a cylinder and the square represented by the cong Bearing the above in mind, we can see that the vase is imbued
is perfectly balanced by the flowing and undulating forms with imperial symbolism and thus is almost certainly an
of the animals, clouds and waves. In classical literature the object made on imperial order. Its fine carving, material and
circle and square together represent the pairing of Heaven imaginative artistic composition corroborates its attribution to
and Earth. Thus, the carver of the vase has skilfully created a the reign of the Qianlong Emperor who was an avid collector
design which at first glance appears to merely combine two of outstanding jade carvings. From the imperial records we
distinct forms, but explored closer, represents one of the know that Qianlong’s jade collection surpassed that of any
most powerful symbolisms known in Chinese art, the ‘Cosmic of his predecessors in quantity and quality, and two-thirds
Universe’. While the large dragon is the symbol of the emperor, of the more than thirty-thousand jade pieces in the Palace
in this arrangement it represents the supreme imperial power. Museum today were either acquired or made during his reign.
The figure of the dragon, accompanied by its companions, Furthermore, he was not only an enthusiastic collector of
the chilong, is depicted ascending from the waves and rocks, jades, but a great patron of artists working in the imperial
reaching to take its place as the ultimate ruler. The maker of palace workshops where creative and exciting pieces, such as
this vase has thus created a visual programme which is about the present vase, would have been produced to cater for his
the supreme power of the emperor in the Chinese cosmic exacting personal taste.
universe.
Apart from its imperial provenance, the present vase was
In order to better understand the hidden symbolism of this also in the collection of the prominent Hong Kong shipping
magnificent vase, let us examine the significance of the two tycoon and real estate developer T.Y. Chao (1912-1999). Chao
important shapes, the circle and the square in Chinese art. One had already been collecting Chinese ceramics for decades,
of the earliest circle form objects known in China are the bi from the 1960s, when he started buying jade objects with a
jade discs, found carefully laid on the bodies of the royals in the preference for large and imposing pieces.
tombs of the Hongshan (c. 3800-2700 BC) and the Liangzhu
(c. 3400-2250 BC) cultures in northeast and east China. While no two jade carvings are ever the same, see a double-
According to the Confucian cannon, the Rites of Zhou (Zhou zun shaped vase from the Qing court collection illustrated in
li), a ruler was expected to use a green jade bi for worshipping The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum.
1
Heaven and a yellow jade cong to worship the Earth. While Jadeware (III), Hong Kong, 1995, no. 145 (fig. 1); and another
historically the circle represented Heaven, in opposition to the conjoined piece published in Zhongguo yuqi quanji [Complete
square that symbolised Earth, in popular culture, especially collection of Chinese jades], vol. 6: Qing, Shijiazhuan, 1993,
though the influence of the teachings of Daoism, circles came pl. 236. See also a yellow jade archaic form vase carved
to stand for perfection, oneness and unity. with climbing chilong around the body included ibid., pl. 241;
together with two examples of white jade vases of conjoined
In contrast, the straight lines and sharp corners of the square forms, pls 243 and 244.
symbolise the concept of rules, regulations and the correct
way of doing things (fangfa). The cong that forms part of the
present vase represents another archaic shape known to the 1 Zhou li zhengyi [Rectification of the Rites of Zhou], Beijing, 2000, 35.1390.
Chinese artist. Early examples of cong objects were unearthed 2 See Lillian Lan-ying Tseng, Picturing Heaven in Early China, London and
from numerous tombs of the Liangzhu culture. In the form of a Cambridge, 2011, p. 47 for more information on the cosmological aspect of
the Canopy Heaven. See also Dirk L. Couprie, ‘An Ancient Chinese Flat Earth
tube it is square on the outside with a hollow cylindrical centre,
Cosmology,’ Tsinghua Journal of Western Philosophy, 2016, no. 3.