Period:Tang dynasty Production date:7thC-10thC
Materials:jade
Technique:
Dimensions:Height: 8.75 centimetres Width: 4.50 centimetres
Description:
18 pieces of a white jade belt set.
IMG
![图片[1]-belt BM-2022-3034.196-China Archive](https://chinaarchive.net/Tang dynasty/Jades/567_.jpg)
Comments:Tang/Song Dynasty. Plaques: 8.75 x 5 cms; 5 x 4.5 cms; 3.25 x 4.75 cms; 3 x 3.25 cms This set comprises plaques of differing shapes and sizes, all presumably from one belt. There are two long rectangular plaques with rounded ends- the tail pieces; four approximately square plaques with a slit in the lower section from which small straps would have hung; six smaller plaques with a straight lower edge and a curved upper one, also with slits for subsidiary straps; and six small pointed and lobed fittings (approximately heart-shaped) with central holes. All the larger plaques have four double holes on the back for attachment. While the fronts are well polished the backs are matt. These plaques would have been arranged along a leather or cloth belt, the longer plaques attached to two “tails” and the smaller plaques fitted along the length. The slits in the smaller plaques were for suspended straps, from which implements could be hung. The pointed plaques may have hung below the larger ones, as on a belt from a tomb of the Northern Zhou period found at Xianyang in Shaanxi province. Belts were complicated because originally they were worn by mounted horsemen, who sought both practical efficiency and display. The additional straps were probably for weapons, such as swords and daggers, and other necessities. In secular life purses and other such items would have hung on the straps. Although the slits for attachment can be seen on the present belt plaques, they were completely eliminated on later belts. The sources of the belts for the use of mounted horsemen were thus lost until the Yuan period, when a new buckle type with a loop, also for a subsidiary strap, came into use. Jade belt sets, like the present one, were always of high value; indeed sumptuary regulations restricted their use to the three highest ranks. Sets in metal are known, and later examples have come from the early eleventh-century tomb of the Liao Princess of Chen and her husband. As the Liao were established on the northern periphery of China and maintained some aspects of their earlier nomadic lifestyle, the belts discovered from this tomb perpetuate features of earlier Western Asian belt sets. See Rawson 1995, p.328, cat.no.25.1.
Materials:jade
Technique:
Dimensions:Height: 8.75 centimetres Width: 4.50 centimetres
Description:
18 pieces of a white jade belt set.
IMG
Comments:Tang/Song Dynasty. Plaques: 8.75 x 5 cms; 5 x 4.5 cms; 3.25 x 4.75 cms; 3 x 3.25 cms This set comprises plaques of differing shapes and sizes, all presumably from one belt. There are two long rectangular plaques with rounded ends- the tail pieces; four approximately square plaques with a slit in the lower section from which small straps would have hung; six smaller plaques with a straight lower edge and a curved upper one, also with slits for subsidiary straps; and six small pointed and lobed fittings (approximately heart-shaped) with central holes. All the larger plaques have four double holes on the back for attachment. While the fronts are well polished the backs are matt. These plaques would have been arranged along a leather or cloth belt, the longer plaques attached to two “tails” and the smaller plaques fitted along the length. The slits in the smaller plaques were for suspended straps, from which implements could be hung. The pointed plaques may have hung below the larger ones, as on a belt from a tomb of the Northern Zhou period found at Xianyang in Shaanxi province. Belts were complicated because originally they were worn by mounted horsemen, who sought both practical efficiency and display. The additional straps were probably for weapons, such as swords and daggers, and other necessities. In secular life purses and other such items would have hung on the straps. Although the slits for attachment can be seen on the present belt plaques, they were completely eliminated on later belts. The sources of the belts for the use of mounted horsemen were thus lost until the Yuan period, when a new buckle type with a loop, also for a subsidiary strap, came into use. Jade belt sets, like the present one, were always of high value; indeed sumptuary regulations restricted their use to the three highest ranks. Sets in metal are known, and later examples have come from the early eleventh-century tomb of the Liao Princess of Chen and her husband. As the Liao were established on the northern periphery of China and maintained some aspects of their earlier nomadic lifestyle, the belts discovered from this tomb perpetuate features of earlier Western Asian belt sets. See Rawson 1995, p.328, cat.no.25.1.
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