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ZHU Qinwen, CHEN Chun, MIN Mengyu, HUANG Fengchun. Research on Craftsmanship of Dragon-Shaped Jade Unearthed from Zeng State Tomb of the Western Zhou Dynasty in Yejiashan, Suizhou, Hubei Province[J]. Journal of Gems & Gemmology, 2022, 24(6): 58-66. DOI: 10.15964/j.cnki.027jgg.2022.06.005
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Chinese people call themselves the "descendants of the dragon". Dragon is a symbol and totem of the Chinese nation, which can be corroborated from the ancient jade articles and jade culture in China. In the long history of more than 8 000 years of Chinese jade and jade culture, the dragon has always been an important role, element and pattern, without interruption.The jade artifacts of Western Zhou Dynasty is a shining pearl, which highlights the cultural characteristics of ritual jade and ornamental jade.The symbols of dragon in the Western Zhou Dynasty include single dragon, combined dragon and dragon pattern, which reflect people's worship of the dragon at that time. A total of 544 pieces/groups of ancient jade artifacts from Zeng State tomb of the Western Zhou Dynasty were unearthed from Yejiashan site, Suizhou, Hubei Province, China. These jade articles were divided into five categories: ritual jade articles, ornamental jade articles, jade articles for daily use, funeral jade articles and jade tools. The variety and number of jade ornaments were the largest, there were 25 kinds (58.1%) and 262 pieces (sets) (65.3%) of jade ornaments. The 21 dragon-shaped jades were classified as jade ornaments, and the number of dragon-shaped jades is second only to fish-shaped jade and bird-shaped jade in jade ornaments. This paper divides the dragon-shaped jades into six types according to their basic shape and posture from type A to type F, and gives a detailed description of each type of the dragon-shaped jade from the aspects of the head, mouth, eyes, horns, and decorative technology, showing the diverseness and the innovative craftsmanship of the dragon-shaped jades from Yejiashan site. On the basis of comparative analysis with dragon-shaped jades from Fuhao tomb in Yin Ruins of the Shang Dynasty, and other dragon-shaped jades from Chu area and the Central Plains of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the typical features of the dragon-shaped jade in Yejiashan are determined. It is concluded that the dragon-shaped jade of the early Western Zhou Dynasty from Yejiashan shows the craft combination of mushroom-pattern horn, rhombus eyes by inclined cutting technology, engraved pattern by inclined cutting technology, and square head. And the mushroom-pattern horn is a relic of dragon-shaped jade craft in Shang Dynasty. Although the dragon-shaped jade in Yejiashan retains the old eye shape, it has developed a long corner line. The research results of this paper provide valuable information for the jade and jade culture in Western Zhou Dynasty of China.
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