Description:
A LARGE GREEN JADE BI DISC
China, Liangzhu culture, 3300-2200 BC. The opaque green stone streaked with pale-green veins and mottled with greyish-white calcification. One central aperture drilled from both sides. Smooth natural patina.
Provenance: From a European private collection.
Published: 4000 Years of Chinese Archaic Jades, The Development of the Jade-Carving Tradition from the Neolithic to the Han Dynasty, by Professor Filippo Salviati, Edition Zacke, Vienna 2017, lot 50.
Condition: Good condition with natural flaws and fissures to stone, tiny nibbling, some chipping, old wear.
Weight: 1536 grams
Dimensions: Diameter 22.8 cm
The bi disc and the cong tube are amongst the most distinctive types of jades created by the Liangzhu culture: thousands of them have been found in tombs of the elite, indicating that these two jade forms had a special significance for this ancient society. Although the symbolic meanings originally associated with the bi were lost with the demise of the Liangzhu culture, it is clear that these jades were imbued with ritual and religious significance and that they played a key role, also as symbols of power and wealth. The term bi is derived from ancient pre-Qin texts such as the Zuo Zhuan, compiled during the early Warring States period (475-221 BC), that describes it as a precious object with magical-religious connotations. However, these accounts do not provide a physical description of this type of jade: it is only in the Shuo Wen, a 2nd century AD dictionary of the Han period, that the bi is described as ‘being circular’.
In the excavations, bi have been discovered in the tombs of high-ranking individuals, either piled up near the head or feet of the deceased, disposed above and below the corpse, or placed on the wooden sarcophagus. Thus, at present, there is no conclusive archaeological evidence which may help us establish how the bi discs were handled and displayed by the living before they were placed in the graves at the time of the burial. Nor we can assess with any certainty their symbolic function, although their resemblance with the ancient pictogram for ‘heaven’ or ‘sky’ -a circle with a dot at the center- has led many scholars to speculate that these jades were probably associated with heaven-related cults. Contrary to the cong tubes, the Liangzhu bi discs do not usually bear any decoration, with the exception of a few but significant cases, represented by large bi with incised pictographs. The majority of bi discs recovered from Liangzhu burials range from about 14 to 27 cm in diameter. The discs were obtained by slicing large boulders of jades, a laborious and time consuming task: sometimes, traces of the cutting process remain on the surfaces, as in the present lot, but in the majority of cases the bi were thoroughly polished, with the exception of the central hole. This was drilled from both sides of the jade, using sections of bamboo and sand abrasives: the ridge in the center of the perforation, clearly visible, marks the point where the two holes meet.
白玉吊墜
中國,良渚文化,公元前3300-2200 年。不透明的綠色石頭上有淺綠色紋理,斑駁的鈣化灰白色。從兩側鑽出一個中心小孔,表面光滑,天然包漿。
來源:歐洲私人收藏
出版: 4000 Years of Chinese Archaic Jades, The Development of the Jade-Carving Tradition from the Neolithic to the Han Dynasty, by Professor Filippo Salviati, Edition Zacke, Vienna 2017, lot 50.
品相:良好品相,天然缺陷和肌理裂紋,細微磕損,一些開片和老磨損
重量:1536 克
尺寸:直徑 22.8 厘米