CHINA ARQUEOLOGIA golden-age-chinese-archayeolog

15
Jade Y-shaped object with animal mask
Height 12.1 (4 3 / 4 ), width 6 (2 3 /s), depth 0.3 (Vs)
Hongshan Culture, c. 4700-2920 BCE
From Fuxingdi, Fuxin, Liaoning Province
Liaoning Provincial Institute of Archaeology,
Shenyang
This Y-shaped jade, recovered in 1981 from the
Fuxingdi site during an archaeological survey, 1
resembles two jade objects in the collection of the
Liaoning Provincial Museum. 2 There is at present
no counterpart available from controlled archaeological
excavation. The most striking element of the
jade is the abstract animal or owl mask, dominated
by two large, round eyes at its upper end. Animallike
mask motifs, consistently depicted facing front
and with enormous eyes, appear throughout prehistoric
China, an indication that their meaning and
significance transcended specific cultures. A handlelike
extension, perforated at the bottom, projects
from the mask, and there are traces of wear at the
bottom edges — evidence that the object was originally
tenoned to another object or into a stand.
A form of handlelike jades appears in Bronze
Age cultures such as the Erlitou and during the
Shang and Zhou periods; 3 they are commonly
identified as ritual instruments. These later jades
may represent a formal synthesis of objects represented
by this Y-shaped jade and the rod-shaped
fittings of the Liangzhu culture (cat. 34). XY
1 Published: Sun 1984,10.
2 Mou and Yun 1992, pis. 15-16; and Liaoning 1994, pi. 54.
3 Zhang Changshou 1994.
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