China is the first country to manufacture and use jade in the world, and it is also the only country that closely combines jade with human nature to form a long and rich jade culture. In ancient China, jade, as a material, was widely used in the fields of sacrifice, etiquette, funeral and decoration. As a kind of spiritual culture, it is respected by Confucianism and loved by gentlemen and benevolent people because of its gentleness, courtesy, honesty and insincerity, jade does not hide its flaws, and spirit like Bai Hong.
In the land of Sanqin, during the Yangshao culture period in the middle Neolithic period, a small number of jade pendants and ornaments with poor quality were found in Xi 'an Banpo and Jiangzhai. The craft level is lower than that of Shandong Dawenkou cultural jade in the same period. During the period of Longshan culture from 4500 to 2000, jade articles in Shaanxi sprang up suddenly, and three kinds of jade articles were formed under different geographical environments and social and economic conditions, namely, the ritual soldiers of graphite jade articles in Longshan culture in Shaanxi, the animal-shaped jade ornaments in Hongshan Culture in Northeast China, and the jade ritual vessels in Liangzhu culture in Southeast China, represented by large valves and jade ornaments.
Shenmu World Trade Longshan Cultural Site is located in the north of Shaanxi. In the early 1970s, 400 to 500 jade articles were unearthed. Unfortunately, the best of them were sold as jade. Among them, more than 100 cultural relics were discovered by archaeologist Dai in the late 1970s, and are now in Shaanxi History Museum. Stone Mao jade articles are exquisitely made and rich in variety. Jade materials include jet, chalcedony, quartzite, marble, serpentine, basic ultrabasic rock and acid silicate. It belongs to nephrite, and its hardness is between six and seven degrees. The source of jade material should be in northern Shaanxi and the nearby areas of Guanzhong, Inner Mongolia and Gansu. Its types are mainly ritual vessels such as Bi and Huang, and symbolic weapons and tools such as axe, graupel, knife, utensil and ge, as well as a small number of animal images, with almost no decorative patterns. The surface of the device is smooth and flat, and there are many light elements without lines. The decorator's intaglio lines are smooth and free. This is an important feature that distinguishes Shimao jade from Neolithic jade in other areas.
The Western Zhou Dynasty was the peak of the development of slavery in China. A large number of documents and archaeological data prove that the Western Zhou Dynasty was a period of initial perfection and development of China's ancient substitute jade system, which first endowed jade with moral connotation and had a far-reaching impact on later generations. Jade plays an important role in various ceremonial activities in the Western Zhou Dynasty.
Shaanxi is the political and cultural center of Zhou people, and it is also the area where most jade articles were found in the Western Zhou Dynasty, which is enough to represent the development level of jade articles in the Western Zhou Dynasty. At present, the Western Zhou jade articles in Shaanxi are mainly found in Baoji? National Cemetery, Fufeng Jiaqiang Western Zhou Cemetery, Chang 'an Fenghao Site, etc. Among them, only Baoji Rujiazhuang? More than 300 jade articles 1300 were unearthed from the tomb of Bo and his concubine Jingji, and more than 550 jade articles were unearthed from the No.1 tomb of Western Zhou Dynasty in Joo Won?. The huge number is really rare. The Western Zhou jade mainly inherited the tradition of Shang Dynasty in shape and category. It can be roughly divided into two categories: ritual vessels and decorative works of art. The former mainly includes jade, jade, yellow, ge, axe, spear and chisel. The latter mainly includes string ornaments, ornaments and various animal images such as fish, deer and birds.
During the Western Zhou Dynasty, the techniques of jade carving in modeling and ornamentation inherited the style of the late Shang Dynasty and tended to be simplified. Most of them are plane carvings, and there are fewer round carvings, mostly small pieces. Decoration is often expressed by simple and rigid lines, with skillful and refined techniques. The kuiwen and phoenix patterns of the yin line or the double hook yang line are its representative patterns.
The ritual jade in the Western Zhou Dynasty has basically served the primitive witchcraft in the Stone Age, and the ancestor worship in the Shang Dynasty has developed to the natural gods. "Li Zhou Guan Chun" records: "Take jade as the six utensils and respect the four corners of the world." Wang, Gong, Hou, Bo, Zi and Gong hold different guis or gems to show different grades. The upper-class aristocratic groups also used jade as a pledge of marriage and military mobilization. Jade is also essential in funerals. Sometimes jade can be used as money. 1975 Wei Qi, one of the four Qiu Wei wares of the Western Zhou Dynasty, unearthed in dongjiacun, Qishan, Shaanxi Province, recorded the arrival of jade in shellfish (coins).
After Qin people entered the Guanzhong area, they inherited the tradition and style of jade used by Zhou people and developed their carving techniques and varieties.
Before the late Warring States period, Qin jade was mainly found in a number of Qin tombs and sites in Fengxiang and Baoji suburbs, especially Qin Gong No.1 Tomb, Yaojiagang Architectural Site and Qin Tomb in Yimenbao, Baoji in the late Spring and Autumn Period. Typical artifacts include ancient jade, jade jade, jun, various accessories, cong, ge, Zhang, cicada, yi, ear spoon, jade ring, hook and so on. These jades are exquisitely carved, and most of their surfaces are decorated with fine and symmetrical plain lines, cirrus lines, animal face lines, or engraved with negative lines or bas-reliefs, which are outstanding representatives of the jade industry in Qin Dynasty. During the reign of the Qin Dynasty at the end of the Warring States Period, perhaps due to the rise of stone carving, the scale and quantity of jade production declined.
Jade in the Western Han Dynasty was developed on the basis of inheriting the traditional characteristics of jade in the Warring States period. In terms of artistic style, it absorbs the elegance, freedom and romance of Chu culture jade, forming a unique artistic style of Han jade, which is moist, simple and magnificent. Compared with the previous generation, it has made great progress in variety, quantity and production technology, and has become the third brilliant peak of Hongshan and Liangzhu culture and jade-making industry since the late Yin and Shang Dynasties.
According to the types and uses of jade articles, jade articles in Han Dynasty can be roughly divided into four categories: ritual jade, decorations, buried jade articles and furnishings. Among them, the highest artistic value is round carving and high relief furnishings. Among them, a group of round carved jades accidentally discovered in the architectural site of Ling Wei Mausoleum of the Yuan Emperor in the Western Han Dynasty can be called the best jades in China. This batch of jade articles includes white jade immortals running horses, jade to ward off evil spirits, jade bears, jade eagles and jade figurines. The Jade Fairy Running towards the Horse is a masterpiece of Chu and Han romanticism, and it is also one of the few fine works of art in the whole ancient jade. This work is carved with suet jade. It is 7 cm high and 8.9 cm long. The horse, with its head held high and its belly decorated with wings, is flying in the air on auspicious clouds. A man with wings and feathers on his back. Feather people, holding the horse by the neck in one hand and Ganoderma lucidum in the other, assumed a cool attitude and wandered around Wan Ren. So far, most of the best jade articles in the Western Han Dynasty have been unearthed in large quantities, such as the tomb of Liu Sheng, the king of Zhongshan in Mancheng, Hebei Province, and the tomb of Zhao Mei, the king of Nanyue, Guangzhou, etc., which have not been stolen. It is conceivable that if the tombs of many Western Han emperors and ministers in Guanzhong, Shaanxi Province were not stolen, more amazing Han jade would be unearthed.