Iconographic and Stylistic Characteristics of Fish-Shaped Jade Artifact Unearthed from the Western Zhou Dynasty Ying State Cemetery, Pingdingshan, Henan Province

As a significant category of ancient Chinese jade artifacts, the fish-shaped jade demonstrates a development trajectory and usage history through the evolutionary process of jade culture. Previous systematic studies on fish-shaped jade have primarily focused on morphological characteristics, materials and utilitarian functions, studies that sort out their iconographic and stylistic characteristics and cultural symbolism are rare. This study investigates the Western Zhou Dynasty fish-shaped jade artifacts unearthed from the Ying State cemetery in Pingdingshan, Henan Province, and focuses on their iconographic and stylistic characteristics, functional applications and underlying historical-cultural connotations. The fish-shaped jade artifact samples are mainly yellow in colour, with occasional deep green and blackish green; they are generally small in size, with measuring under 5 cm in length, featuring characteristic perforations and universal surface calcification phenomena. Based on the characteristics of ornamental motifs and craftmanship techniques, they are classified into three types: ornamental fish-shaped jade, utilitarian fish-shaped jade and wearable fish-shaped jade. Specific jade fish artifacts from the Ying State cemetery exhibit dragon-like characteristics. Their design and functional significance not only reveal the hierarchical system and religious ideology of the Zhou Dynasty, but also reflect progressive anthropomorphization of natural worship during the Western Zhou period, thereby enriching the historical and cultural context of jade artifacts from the era.