Chapter 4 Lecture 4: A Gentleman Doesn’t Get Away with Jade for No Reason—Jade Wares of the Han Dynasty
We are generally very willing to connect the Qin and Han Dynasties, and say that the Qin Dynasty and the Han Dynasty are next to each other, but in jade collections, except for professional books, Qin and Han Dynasties are generally not discussed, only the Han Dynasty.Because the Qin Dynasty enjoys the country for a short time, only fifteen years, it is often ignored.Did the Qin Dynasty have jade?There must be, it is recorded in history books.However, it is very rare to find unearthed jade articles from the Qin Dynasty today.Fifteen years is a very long period of time for a human life, but it is too short for the history of civilization.Therefore, in the identification of cultural relics, it is very difficult to separate out the fifteen years of jade, and a clear excavation report must be obtained.
The Qin Dynasty jade wares in the historical records are very rich. "Xijing Miscellaneous Notes" said that Liu Bang, the emperor of the Han Dynasty, "first entered the Xianyang Palace, and traveled around the Kufu. The gold and jade treasures are indescribable".It is very clear that Liu Bang won the world, entered the palace warehouse of the Qin Dynasty, and saw countless gold and jade treasures.This proves that there were a large number of jade articles in the Qin Dynasty at that time.If you are lucky enough to see the excavation of the Mausoleum of King Qin, I think there must be unimaginable treasures inside, and there must be a large number of jade articles.The tombs of the emperors that can be seen today, such as the Dingling Tomb in the Ming Tombs, are the tombs of Emperor Wanli. It was excavated under the order of the state, and now the Dingling Museum has been built.I don't know if our generation will still be able to see the excavation of Qin Shihuang's Mausoleum, or maybe the next generation, and the next generation, when the country has the ability to officially excavate, we will be able to see Qin Yu's demeanor.
There is a famous story that we are all familiar with: Hongmen Banquet.Xiang Yu and Liu Bang met at Hongmen, and this meeting was very dangerous.At the Hongmen banquet, Fan Zeng signaled several times to Xiang Yu that he wanted to kill Liu Bang, how did he signal it?He is holding a jade object, Jue. The original text of "Historical Records - Xiang Yu Benji" is written like this, "Fan Zeng counted King Xiang and held up the jade ring worn by him to show three. King Xiang silently refused." Xiang Yu saw him lift the ring three times.The purpose of Jue here is to make you make up your mind to kill Liu Bang.But Xiang Yu didn't make up his mind.
The shape of the jue is a little different from the common jade ring, it has a gap.Why should there be a gap in the complete shape?Some cultural relics believe that the earrings were the earliest earrings.The evidence is that in the early burials, a large number of rings are on both sides of the skull, which proves that the rings may have developed from earrings.
Jue performed various functions in the later history.For example, it is used as a token.In the past, when the emperor was dissatisfied with the ministers under him, when he asked you to send you to the frontier, he would send you a scorpion to express that I would make a decision with you.But when the favorite minister went far away, the emperor missed him again, so he used another tactful way of expression: send a ring, which is our ring, seal this mouth, and hope you can come back.This is the political meaning of jade in our lives.
I once met a person who took a piece of jade.He said: "Mr. Ma, help me to see, what is this?" When I saw it, it was a jue.This jue is very peculiar, and the decoration is incomplete.When we collect jade, we must pay attention to the decoration on it.Many of the early jades had no decorations, but with the development of jade, the decorations increased and were generally complete.But the decoration on the ring he brought was incomplete, which made him feel very strange.I will explain to him.I said: "This piece of jade may have been originally a bi, which was refitted by later people." This kind of refitting phenomenon is not a rare phenomenon in the history of Chinese jade development, and there are many.Jade is easy to be damaged. If you are not careful, the jade bi will fall to the ground and a part will be missed or cracked. So you will cut off this part and round the damaged part to become a piece of ring. may become incomplete.We judge whether a piece of jade has been modified, mainly by whether its decoration is complete.
Jade bi is a traditional jade variety, and the grain-patterned bi was still popular in the Han Dynasty, but in the Western Han Dynasty, some of its shapes changed.What changes?Some patterns are added to the outer edge of the jade bi, and the technical term for this kind of bi is called "outer bi".Kuo and Guo Tong are false, referring to the outer city.For example, in Li Bai's "Sending off Friends", "The green mountains run across the north Guo, and the white water surrounds the east city." Here, the Guo is the same, and the outer city is the outline.When additional decorations are added to the outer ring of the standard jade bi, it is called "outline bi".
Why did this outline bi appear in the Han Dynasty?Certainly not a coincidence.What is the reason, today no scholar can pinpoint its reason exactly.I also read a lot of books and checked a lot of information, but in the end I couldn't find a convincing result.I said that many mysteries in history may be lifelong mysteries, and it is possible that our generation, or even several generations, cannot be solved.
In the funeral system of the Han Dynasty, jade was very important.The reason why a large amount of Han jade was unearthed is because the funeral system of the Han Dynasty stipulated that as the grade increased, the number of jade also increased.There is a typical variety of burial jade called "Yuxi", which is jade put into the mouth of the deceased.what kind?Generally, they are called "Zhi Liaoer" and "Ji Niaoer" in Beijing dialect.Why did the ancients make jade into cicadas?It has meaning.Cicadas change from larvae to adults, and they must metamorphose when they emerge from the ground.A traditional Chinese medicine is called "Cicada slough", which is the shell that the cicada sloughs off.When we were young, we often went to the woods after it rained to look for the monkeys that crawled out, which are the larvae of cicadas.
The ancients did not look at it from biological phenomena, but from sociological phenomena.The ancients believed that cicadas are very noble.It is said that it only drinks some dew and sings loudly.The ancients did not know how many years the cicadas have been eating underground.Once the cicada has got out of the soil, people will see it on the tree, drinking only a little dew, and making a bright cry.Therefore, the ancients believed that cicadas were a symbol of noble character.In addition, it can come out of the ground and become another appearance, so I think it can be reborn, reborn and exchanged for shares, which is very magical.The deceased had a jade cicada in his mouth, indicating that he wished to be reborn.
When I was in my twenties, I bought a jade cicada, which was very white and very good.I was very happy when I bought it. I ran away holding the cicada, and ran directly to a museum to see my friends.The museum back then was a bit different from today, the doors to the backyard were tightly shut.There is a small door in the middle of the big iron gate, which is relatively short.When I opened the little door, I bumped my head against the door frame.At that time, I basically fainted, sitting on the ground holding the cicada.After waking up after a while, I checked that the cicada was still in my hand. Then when I entered the door, they saw a big bump on my head and said, "Have you hit the door frame? How many people have you hit by that door frame?" Neither high nor short, no matter how tall you are, you won't be able to hit it; if you are any shorter, you can see it.It's this kind of door frame that's neither high nor low that I'm bumping into.I was so excited and happy that day that I ignored the door frame when I got excited.This is the first cicada in my collection, and I have met many later, but none of them are as good and beautiful as the first one.
I'm not miserable, there is a friend who is worse than me.He bought a large porcelain bowl in the UK that year, and he called me directly in the UK.He is in the morning, I am in the evening, call me, I answer the phone.He said: "Mr. Ma, I just bought a bowl. It is very good and the price is right." While he was talking, he heard "Aiyo" and hung up the phone.After hanging up, half an hour later, he called me and said, "Do you know what happened to me just now?" I said, "What's wrong?" He said, "I put this bowl in this pocket and went out. When I was not careful, the door slammed and shattered. "Fortunately, I was injured, and he was injured.So, I'm luckier than him.From here we should have a lesson, that is, from the perspective of collection, many people will be excited when they buy something.When excited, you ignore your surroundings.You see, I have been to the backyard of the museum countless times, and every time I never bumped into the door frame, I just hit the door frame while holding the cicada.right?So be sure to pay attention to your surroundings, especially those you are not familiar with.
The deceased had a cicada in his mouth, what was in his hand?In the past, it was important not to walk with empty hands, but to hold something in your hands, especially the rich.So what to hold?The jade grip is usually in the shape of a pig.The Chinese nation has a very long history of raising pigs, at least five or six thousand years old.Therefore, pigs have been an important wealth of farming nations for a long time.When a person dies, he will hold a pig in his hand.So the best, of course, is the jade grip.Jade pigs and jade cicadas are very important categories in Han burial jade.
I also bought a jade pig in my early years.When I bought it, I was not very clear about it, and the money was not very expensive.After I bought it, I went to show it off to others and asked a professional to look at it.I said, "Look, is the jade pig I bought good?" People said, "This thing is really rare. It's very good. But which one?" I said, "Why which one? Just this one!" He said, "There should be one more, one in each hand." I got anxious when I heard that, so I went back, found the merchant, and said, "There should be two of this thing." "He said, "There are two of them. I'll sell you one." Then I said, "What about that one?" He said, "That one is in my brother's hands." Sometimes a businessman will trick you a bit.Sometimes the price of selling this thing together is not as good as taking it apart.So I went to his brother, and I said, "Can you also buy me a pair?" He said, "I can also sell this one, but it's more expensive than his." Very unpleasant.It's not that it's more expensive, but I can afford it.He is several times more expensive.I just gave up right then and there.Once I give up, I will never have a chance to get this jade hand together again.It never got a chance to come together again, at least in my lifetime.Where it is now, I don't know.
Therefore, in the collection, as long as your financial ability allows, you will admit it when it is time to admit it.I said that when it's time to make a move, it's time to make a move, and when it's time to admit defeat, it's time to admit defeat.If I don't buy one at the beginning, I will buy a pair, and I will buy it after you two discuss it.Then probably there won't be a problem.But the problem is that I didn't know it at the time, so I bought one. When I look back and I change from active to passive, I must admit it.I didn't recognize this trap at the time, which caused me to lose an excellent opportunity.When paired things come together, sometimes money is not the most important thing, but opportunity is the most important.
From the jade cicada handle, we can see a typical feature of Hanyu craftsmanship: the knife method is very simple, and it is divided into two sides in the shape of Chinese characters, which is often called "Han Eight Knives" in craftsmanship.Just started learning jade, people say Han Ba Dao, you have to understand that this "eight" refers to the state of the jade decoration in the Chinese character "eight", it does not mean that there are eight dao carved on it.
It's not like carving eight knives on the radish flower and then it's finished, it's just a peony and it comes out, that's not what it means. "Bazi" refers to the direction of the knife technique, not the concept of numbers. The simple style of "Han Ba Dao" was unique in the Han Dynasty, and did not affect much later generations. Therefore, among the collections of Han jade, the jade of Han Ba Dao is a very typical jade.
We have been talking about the jade burial system in the Han Dynasty.Why did people in the Han Dynasty bury jade?It is because he believes that jade can make people immortal.In the early days, he needed some plugs to plug all the holes of the dead.There are nine plugs, nine plugs.So, let's see what it looks like.Just looking at the picture looks like a grimace. Generally, plugs refer to a pair of eyes, a pair of ears, a pair of nose holes, mouth, genitals, and anus, nine plugs.
What we know most about the jade burial system is often the golden jade clothes.As long as you know something about our Chinese jade, you can mention it as a golden jade dress. It is recorded in "Xijing Miscellaneous Notes" that it said: "The emperor of Han died in a jade box with pearls. The shape of the box is like armor, with gold thread." After the death of the emperor of the Han Dynasty, he had clothes inside and jade outside. The box made, the so-called box is the jade clothes, and then connected with gold strands.There are grades of jade clothes, there are golden jade clothes, there are silver jade clothes, and there are silk jade clothes, and the levels are different.It is made of small pieces of jade with holes in the four corners connected to cover the person.Only emperors and nobles can enjoy this burial level.
People in the Han Dynasty believed that burying jade was to make the corpse immortal, but could it guarantee the immortality of the corpse?Those of us who have a little scientific knowledge today know that this is impossible.In the Tang Dynasty, there was a poet named Li He, whose most famous poem was "Sing the rooster and the world is white".Li He has a poem called "Liu Che's mausoleum is full of stagnant bones, and Yingzheng's catalpa coffin costs abalone." He is talking about the two emperors of Han Wudi and Qin Shihuang. After death, they will die, and they cannot be immortal.People in the Tang Dynasty already had such a profound understanding.
Jade clothing is the highest level in the burial system.The most representative jade garment was excavated in 1968 in the Han Tomb in Mancheng, Hebei.At that time, during the Cultural Revolution, the army was there to open the mountain.Blast a hole.Then after a soldier ran in, he set up an arbor with his hands and took a look. He said that the golden light inside was all gold, so he ran out.Then the most famous Changxin Palace Lantern we know is here.There are two complete sets of golden jade clothes here, one for a man and one for a woman.The male is Liu Sheng, and the female is Dou Wan.So how many pieces of jade did Liu Sheng use for his jade clothes?According to the final count of 2498 pieces, Dou Wan's Yuyi used 2160 pieces.Liu Sheng's jade clothes used 1100 grams of gold, and Dou Wan's used 700 grams.The gold thread alone used so much gold, which shows the luxury at that time.
The golden jade garment with the most jade pieces was excavated in 1994 in the Tomb of King Chu in Lion Mountain, Xuzhou, Jiangsu.The owner of the tomb is Liu Yingke, the second king of Chu in the Western Han Dynasty. He shared 4,248 pieces of jade and 1,576 grams of gold wire, which is three catties of gold.
The most special jade garment is the tomb of the Nanyue king found in Guangzhou. It was an accidental discovery. It was originally intended to build a building there, and the tomb of the Nanyue king was dug out after digging the foundation.This tomb has not been harassed, and no one has robbed it in history.The jade clothes it appears are silky.After more than 2,000 years of silk strands, the silk has rotted.
The golden jade clothes are easy to identify. When we visit, we can know what it is when we see that it is wrapped around a person like an armor.But when it is disassembled, especially when there are some odd-shaped pieces, many people don't know what it does.
I have met many people taking this kind of small jade pieces, let me identify what it is and what is it used for?I told him that this is part of the Jade Clothes.Many tombs in our past history have been robbed, so the early robbing of many tombs is the period that caused the greatest damage to our cultural relics.Then at this time, there will be a lot of tomb robbers scattered among the people.Because sometimes the tomb robber has only an economic mind, and after the destruction, everyone disperses this thing, so the fragments you see may have been stolen in the early years, and they were scattered and never put together.During the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Pi, Emperor Wen of Wei, ordered the prohibition of jade clothing, so the burial system plummeted, and there will be no jade clothing after the Three Kingdoms.
There are many practical objects in the jade wares of the Han Dynasty, and it is not easy to preserve them, because we have a history of two thousand years after all, so the relatively complete ornaments of the Han Dynasty are basically national treasures.For example, the immortal horse-riding jade ornaments unearthed at the Pingling Mausoleum of Emperor Han Zhao in Xianyang, Shaanxi Province, are very famous and state-level cultural relics.The cloud pattern under it shows that it is flying in the sky, its mouth is open, you pay attention, it is all open; teeth are bared; the eyes are straight ahead and protruding; the ears are erect; especially Tail, upturned, flowing.
The image of the Han horse that we all know the most is the national tourism symbol "horse stepping on a flying swallow", also known as a bronze galloping horse.We can make a horizontal comparison between it and this jade horse.This jade horse is very consistent with this bronze horse in many details.For example, for this jade horse, it only protrudes from one side, as does "Horse Stepping on a Flying Swallow".It's all one sided.Please pay attention to the posture of the horse, its right leg is moving forward along the side, the same is true for "horse stepping on flying swallow".So some people think that this is not a Chinese horse.When a Chinese horse moves its right leg, its left hind leg is in front of it, which is misaligned.
Now you know?Why is an expert an expert?Look at this horse, it is not a Chinese horse once it is gone.Is it not a Chinese horse, is it a Chinese Mongolian horse.Our horses are all like this, with four legs alternating left and right.Let's take a look again, let's compare the bronze galloping horse and the jade horse bit by bit.The same mouth is open and the teeth are exposed; the nose is also turned up, the nostrils are blown, and the nostrils are turned out; All of them are rabbits; their tails are upturned in a running shape.The bronze galloping horse is from the Eastern Han Dynasty, and this jade horse is from the Western Han Dynasty.
Although from the Western Han Dynasty to the Eastern Han Dynasty, of course the last year of the Western Han Dynasty is not much different from the first year of the Eastern Han Dynasty, there is still a certain period of time for the transition between the Western Han Dynasty and the Eastern Han Dynasty.In this transition of time, we still retain not only the jade style of the Han Dynasty, but also the general style of animals in the Han Dynasty.The performance of its copper ware is very close to that of jade ware.
In the Victoria and Albert Museum in the United Kingdom, it has a jade horse head, which is very rare with only the head.The image of its horse is still this image.Although its head is lowered, its mouth is slightly open and its teeth are exposed. Many features are very close to horses of this period.Why is it said that cultural relics are a typology?That is, when a standard emerges, everyone will move closer to this standard. If you can rely on it, then it is right. If you can’t, then it is definitely not right.Don't tell me why I'm not, because you can't meet that standard.
It is very interesting for us to look at the jade containers.Because it is extremely difficult to make jade containers, it is extremely difficult to hollow out such a hard material.We select jade cups from four periods for comparison.The first is a crystal cup from the Warring States period.Crystal is also a kind of jade.The second is a jade cup from the Qin Dynasty unearthed in Xi'an, Shaanxi.The third is a jade cup from the early Western Han Dynasty unearthed in Guangxi.The fourth is a jade cup from Wei State during the Three Kingdoms period, which was unearthed in Luoyang, Henan.The four cups are lined up in a row, and the inheritance relationship can be clearly seen, which is similar to the wine glasses we use today.
The crystal cups of the Warring States period unearthed in Hangzhou are no different from modern cups for today's people.The beauty of this cup made in China more than two thousand years ago is beyond our descendants' imagination.The crystal cup is exhibited in the Hangzhou History Museum, and I looked around the cup for a long time.I think it looks very modern to us in terms of shape, almost exactly the same as today's glass, two thousand years ago.Those of us who produce glass today must not admit that we copied the crystal glass two thousand years ago.But this crystal cup is indeed a testimony, proving that our nation had such a high aesthetic and such exquisite craftsmanship more than two thousand years ago.
Speaking of jade in the Han Dynasty, we can make a summary.Confucius and his contemporary thinkers all praised this jade and the behavior of admiring jade.His most important words are "A gentleman does not wear a jade without a reason." As a gentleman, you have no reason, no reason, you should wear a piece of jade on your body.You don't admire jade anymore, you should have a reason.Then, this kind of social atmosphere intensified in the Han Dynasty, and has been affecting the subsequent dynasties, and even today.
Hanyu pursues a jade culture of classical realism and mysterious romanticism.It is a culture with many romantic colors.The jade horse we just saw was running on the clouds.After the Han Dynasty, the country fell into a kind of chaos, and the jade culture began to weaken.Until the Sui and Tang Dynasties, our jade culture rose again.
The shape of the jue is a little different from the common jade ring, it has a gap.Why should there be a gap in the complete shape?Some cultural relics believe that the earrings were the earliest earrings.The evidence is that in the early burials, a large number of rings are on both sides of the skull, which proves that the rings may have developed from earrings.
Jue performed various functions in the later history.For example, it is used as a token.In the past, when the emperor was dissatisfied with the ministers under him, when he asked you to send you to the frontier, he would send you a scorpion to express that I would make a decision with you.But when the favorite minister went far away, the emperor missed him again, so he used another tactful way of expression: send a ring, which is our ring, seal this mouth, and hope you can come back.This is the political meaning of jade in our lives.
I once met a person who took a piece of jade.He said: "Mr. Ma, help me to see, what is this?" When I saw it, it was a jue.This jue is very peculiar, and the decoration is incomplete.When we collect jade, we must pay attention to the decoration on it.Many of the early jades had no decorations, but with the development of jade, the decorations increased and were generally complete.But the decoration on the ring he brought was incomplete, which made him feel very strange.I will explain to him.I said: "This piece of jade may have been originally a bi, which was refitted by later people." This kind of refitting phenomenon is not a rare phenomenon in the history of Chinese jade development, and there are many.Jade is easy to be damaged. If you are not careful, the jade bi will fall to the ground and a part will be missed or cracked. So you will cut off this part and round the damaged part to become a piece of ring. may become incomplete.We judge whether a piece of jade has been modified, mainly by whether its decoration is complete.
Jade bi is a traditional jade variety, and the grain-patterned bi was still popular in the Han Dynasty, but in the Western Han Dynasty, some of its shapes changed.What changes?Some patterns are added to the outer edge of the jade bi, and the technical term for this kind of bi is called "outer bi".Kuo and Guo Tong are false, referring to the outer city.For example, in Li Bai's "Sending off Friends", "The green mountains run across the north Guo, and the white water surrounds the east city." Here, the Guo is the same, and the outer city is the outline.When additional decorations are added to the outer ring of the standard jade bi, it is called "outline bi".
Why did this outline bi appear in the Han Dynasty?Certainly not a coincidence.What is the reason, today no scholar can pinpoint its reason exactly.I also read a lot of books and checked a lot of information, but in the end I couldn't find a convincing result.I said that many mysteries in history may be lifelong mysteries, and it is possible that our generation, or even several generations, cannot be solved.
In the funeral system of the Han Dynasty, jade was very important.The reason why a large amount of Han jade was unearthed is because the funeral system of the Han Dynasty stipulated that as the grade increased, the number of jade also increased.There is a typical variety of burial jade called "Yuxi", which is jade put into the mouth of the deceased.what kind?Generally, they are called "Zhi Liaoer" and "Ji Niaoer" in Beijing dialect.Why did the ancients make jade into cicadas?It has meaning.Cicadas change from larvae to adults, and they must metamorphose when they emerge from the ground.A traditional Chinese medicine is called "Cicada slough", which is the shell that the cicada sloughs off.When we were young, we often went to the woods after it rained to look for the monkeys that crawled out, which are the larvae of cicadas.
The ancients did not look at it from biological phenomena, but from sociological phenomena.The ancients believed that cicadas are very noble.It is said that it only drinks some dew and sings loudly.The ancients did not know how many years the cicadas have been eating underground.Once the cicada has got out of the soil, people will see it on the tree, drinking only a little dew, and making a bright cry.Therefore, the ancients believed that cicadas were a symbol of noble character.In addition, it can come out of the ground and become another appearance, so I think it can be reborn, reborn and exchanged for shares, which is very magical.The deceased had a jade cicada in his mouth, indicating that he wished to be reborn.
When I was in my twenties, I bought a jade cicada, which was very white and very good.I was very happy when I bought it. I ran away holding the cicada, and ran directly to a museum to see my friends.The museum back then was a bit different from today, the doors to the backyard were tightly shut.There is a small door in the middle of the big iron gate, which is relatively short.When I opened the little door, I bumped my head against the door frame.At that time, I basically fainted, sitting on the ground holding the cicada.After waking up after a while, I checked that the cicada was still in my hand. Then when I entered the door, they saw a big bump on my head and said, "Have you hit the door frame? How many people have you hit by that door frame?" Neither high nor short, no matter how tall you are, you won't be able to hit it; if you are any shorter, you can see it.It's this kind of door frame that's neither high nor low that I'm bumping into.I was so excited and happy that day that I ignored the door frame when I got excited.This is the first cicada in my collection, and I have met many later, but none of them are as good and beautiful as the first one.
I'm not miserable, there is a friend who is worse than me.He bought a large porcelain bowl in the UK that year, and he called me directly in the UK.He is in the morning, I am in the evening, call me, I answer the phone.He said: "Mr. Ma, I just bought a bowl. It is very good and the price is right." While he was talking, he heard "Aiyo" and hung up the phone.After hanging up, half an hour later, he called me and said, "Do you know what happened to me just now?" I said, "What's wrong?" He said, "I put this bowl in this pocket and went out. When I was not careful, the door slammed and shattered. "Fortunately, I was injured, and he was injured.So, I'm luckier than him.From here we should have a lesson, that is, from the perspective of collection, many people will be excited when they buy something.When excited, you ignore your surroundings.You see, I have been to the backyard of the museum countless times, and every time I never bumped into the door frame, I just hit the door frame while holding the cicada.right?So be sure to pay attention to your surroundings, especially those you are not familiar with.
The deceased had a cicada in his mouth, what was in his hand?In the past, it was important not to walk with empty hands, but to hold something in your hands, especially the rich.So what to hold?The jade grip is usually in the shape of a pig.The Chinese nation has a very long history of raising pigs, at least five or six thousand years old.Therefore, pigs have been an important wealth of farming nations for a long time.When a person dies, he will hold a pig in his hand.So the best, of course, is the jade grip.Jade pigs and jade cicadas are very important categories in Han burial jade.
I also bought a jade pig in my early years.When I bought it, I was not very clear about it, and the money was not very expensive.After I bought it, I went to show it off to others and asked a professional to look at it.I said, "Look, is the jade pig I bought good?" People said, "This thing is really rare. It's very good. But which one?" I said, "Why which one? Just this one!" He said, "There should be one more, one in each hand." I got anxious when I heard that, so I went back, found the merchant, and said, "There should be two of this thing." "He said, "There are two of them. I'll sell you one." Then I said, "What about that one?" He said, "That one is in my brother's hands." Sometimes a businessman will trick you a bit.Sometimes the price of selling this thing together is not as good as taking it apart.So I went to his brother, and I said, "Can you also buy me a pair?" He said, "I can also sell this one, but it's more expensive than his." Very unpleasant.It's not that it's more expensive, but I can afford it.He is several times more expensive.I just gave up right then and there.Once I give up, I will never have a chance to get this jade hand together again.It never got a chance to come together again, at least in my lifetime.Where it is now, I don't know.
Therefore, in the collection, as long as your financial ability allows, you will admit it when it is time to admit it.I said that when it's time to make a move, it's time to make a move, and when it's time to admit defeat, it's time to admit defeat.If I don't buy one at the beginning, I will buy a pair, and I will buy it after you two discuss it.Then probably there won't be a problem.But the problem is that I didn't know it at the time, so I bought one. When I look back and I change from active to passive, I must admit it.I didn't recognize this trap at the time, which caused me to lose an excellent opportunity.When paired things come together, sometimes money is not the most important thing, but opportunity is the most important.
From the jade cicada handle, we can see a typical feature of Hanyu craftsmanship: the knife method is very simple, and it is divided into two sides in the shape of Chinese characters, which is often called "Han Eight Knives" in craftsmanship.Just started learning jade, people say Han Ba Dao, you have to understand that this "eight" refers to the state of the jade decoration in the Chinese character "eight", it does not mean that there are eight dao carved on it.
It's not like carving eight knives on the radish flower and then it's finished, it's just a peony and it comes out, that's not what it means. "Bazi" refers to the direction of the knife technique, not the concept of numbers. The simple style of "Han Ba Dao" was unique in the Han Dynasty, and did not affect much later generations. Therefore, among the collections of Han jade, the jade of Han Ba Dao is a very typical jade.
We have been talking about the jade burial system in the Han Dynasty.Why did people in the Han Dynasty bury jade?It is because he believes that jade can make people immortal.In the early days, he needed some plugs to plug all the holes of the dead.There are nine plugs, nine plugs.So, let's see what it looks like.Just looking at the picture looks like a grimace. Generally, plugs refer to a pair of eyes, a pair of ears, a pair of nose holes, mouth, genitals, and anus, nine plugs.
What we know most about the jade burial system is often the golden jade clothes.As long as you know something about our Chinese jade, you can mention it as a golden jade dress. It is recorded in "Xijing Miscellaneous Notes" that it said: "The emperor of Han died in a jade box with pearls. The shape of the box is like armor, with gold thread." After the death of the emperor of the Han Dynasty, he had clothes inside and jade outside. The box made, the so-called box is the jade clothes, and then connected with gold strands.There are grades of jade clothes, there are golden jade clothes, there are silver jade clothes, and there are silk jade clothes, and the levels are different.It is made of small pieces of jade with holes in the four corners connected to cover the person.Only emperors and nobles can enjoy this burial level.
People in the Han Dynasty believed that burying jade was to make the corpse immortal, but could it guarantee the immortality of the corpse?Those of us who have a little scientific knowledge today know that this is impossible.In the Tang Dynasty, there was a poet named Li He, whose most famous poem was "Sing the rooster and the world is white".Li He has a poem called "Liu Che's mausoleum is full of stagnant bones, and Yingzheng's catalpa coffin costs abalone." He is talking about the two emperors of Han Wudi and Qin Shihuang. After death, they will die, and they cannot be immortal.People in the Tang Dynasty already had such a profound understanding.
Jade clothing is the highest level in the burial system.The most representative jade garment was excavated in 1968 in the Han Tomb in Mancheng, Hebei.At that time, during the Cultural Revolution, the army was there to open the mountain.Blast a hole.Then after a soldier ran in, he set up an arbor with his hands and took a look. He said that the golden light inside was all gold, so he ran out.Then the most famous Changxin Palace Lantern we know is here.There are two complete sets of golden jade clothes here, one for a man and one for a woman.The male is Liu Sheng, and the female is Dou Wan.So how many pieces of jade did Liu Sheng use for his jade clothes?According to the final count of 2498 pieces, Dou Wan's Yuyi used 2160 pieces.Liu Sheng's jade clothes used 1100 grams of gold, and Dou Wan's used 700 grams.The gold thread alone used so much gold, which shows the luxury at that time.
The golden jade garment with the most jade pieces was excavated in 1994 in the Tomb of King Chu in Lion Mountain, Xuzhou, Jiangsu.The owner of the tomb is Liu Yingke, the second king of Chu in the Western Han Dynasty. He shared 4,248 pieces of jade and 1,576 grams of gold wire, which is three catties of gold.
The most special jade garment is the tomb of the Nanyue king found in Guangzhou. It was an accidental discovery. It was originally intended to build a building there, and the tomb of the Nanyue king was dug out after digging the foundation.This tomb has not been harassed, and no one has robbed it in history.The jade clothes it appears are silky.After more than 2,000 years of silk strands, the silk has rotted.
The golden jade clothes are easy to identify. When we visit, we can know what it is when we see that it is wrapped around a person like an armor.But when it is disassembled, especially when there are some odd-shaped pieces, many people don't know what it does.
I have met many people taking this kind of small jade pieces, let me identify what it is and what is it used for?I told him that this is part of the Jade Clothes.Many tombs in our past history have been robbed, so the early robbing of many tombs is the period that caused the greatest damage to our cultural relics.Then at this time, there will be a lot of tomb robbers scattered among the people.Because sometimes the tomb robber has only an economic mind, and after the destruction, everyone disperses this thing, so the fragments you see may have been stolen in the early years, and they were scattered and never put together.During the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Pi, Emperor Wen of Wei, ordered the prohibition of jade clothing, so the burial system plummeted, and there will be no jade clothing after the Three Kingdoms.
There are many practical objects in the jade wares of the Han Dynasty, and it is not easy to preserve them, because we have a history of two thousand years after all, so the relatively complete ornaments of the Han Dynasty are basically national treasures.For example, the immortal horse-riding jade ornaments unearthed at the Pingling Mausoleum of Emperor Han Zhao in Xianyang, Shaanxi Province, are very famous and state-level cultural relics.The cloud pattern under it shows that it is flying in the sky, its mouth is open, you pay attention, it is all open; teeth are bared; the eyes are straight ahead and protruding; the ears are erect; especially Tail, upturned, flowing.
The image of the Han horse that we all know the most is the national tourism symbol "horse stepping on a flying swallow", also known as a bronze galloping horse.We can make a horizontal comparison between it and this jade horse.This jade horse is very consistent with this bronze horse in many details.For example, for this jade horse, it only protrudes from one side, as does "Horse Stepping on a Flying Swallow".It's all one sided.Please pay attention to the posture of the horse, its right leg is moving forward along the side, the same is true for "horse stepping on flying swallow".So some people think that this is not a Chinese horse.When a Chinese horse moves its right leg, its left hind leg is in front of it, which is misaligned.
Now you know?Why is an expert an expert?Look at this horse, it is not a Chinese horse once it is gone.Is it not a Chinese horse, is it a Chinese Mongolian horse.Our horses are all like this, with four legs alternating left and right.Let's take a look again, let's compare the bronze galloping horse and the jade horse bit by bit.The same mouth is open and the teeth are exposed; the nose is also turned up, the nostrils are blown, and the nostrils are turned out; All of them are rabbits; their tails are upturned in a running shape.The bronze galloping horse is from the Eastern Han Dynasty, and this jade horse is from the Western Han Dynasty.
Although from the Western Han Dynasty to the Eastern Han Dynasty, of course the last year of the Western Han Dynasty is not much different from the first year of the Eastern Han Dynasty, there is still a certain period of time for the transition between the Western Han Dynasty and the Eastern Han Dynasty.In this transition of time, we still retain not only the jade style of the Han Dynasty, but also the general style of animals in the Han Dynasty.The performance of its copper ware is very close to that of jade ware.
In the Victoria and Albert Museum in the United Kingdom, it has a jade horse head, which is very rare with only the head.The image of its horse is still this image.Although its head is lowered, its mouth is slightly open and its teeth are exposed. Many features are very close to horses of this period.Why is it said that cultural relics are a typology?That is, when a standard emerges, everyone will move closer to this standard. If you can rely on it, then it is right. If you can’t, then it is definitely not right.Don't tell me why I'm not, because you can't meet that standard.
It is very interesting for us to look at the jade containers.Because it is extremely difficult to make jade containers, it is extremely difficult to hollow out such a hard material.We select jade cups from four periods for comparison.The first is a crystal cup from the Warring States period.Crystal is also a kind of jade.The second is a jade cup from the Qin Dynasty unearthed in Xi'an, Shaanxi.The third is a jade cup from the early Western Han Dynasty unearthed in Guangxi.The fourth is a jade cup from Wei State during the Three Kingdoms period, which was unearthed in Luoyang, Henan.The four cups are lined up in a row, and the inheritance relationship can be clearly seen, which is similar to the wine glasses we use today.
The crystal cups of the Warring States period unearthed in Hangzhou are no different from modern cups for today's people.The beauty of this cup made in China more than two thousand years ago is beyond our descendants' imagination.The crystal cup is exhibited in the Hangzhou History Museum, and I looked around the cup for a long time.I think it looks very modern to us in terms of shape, almost exactly the same as today's glass, two thousand years ago.Those of us who produce glass today must not admit that we copied the crystal glass two thousand years ago.But this crystal cup is indeed a testimony, proving that our nation had such a high aesthetic and such exquisite craftsmanship more than two thousand years ago.
Speaking of jade in the Han Dynasty, we can make a summary.Confucius and his contemporary thinkers all praised this jade and the behavior of admiring jade.His most important words are "A gentleman does not wear a jade without a reason." As a gentleman, you have no reason, no reason, you should wear a piece of jade on your body.You don't admire jade anymore, you should have a reason.Then, this kind of social atmosphere intensified in the Han Dynasty, and has been affecting the subsequent dynasties, and even today.
Hanyu pursues a jade culture of classical realism and mysterious romanticism.It is a culture with many romantic colors.The jade horse we just saw was running on the clouds.After the Han Dynasty, the country fell into a kind of chaos, and the jade culture began to weaken.Until the Sui and Tang Dynasties, our jade culture rose again.