Period:Song dynasty Production date:960-1279
Materials:jade
Technique:carved
Subjects:animal
Dimensions:Length: 8.20 centimetres
Description:
Figure of a bear. The animal is crouching on the ground, head turned sideways, jaw open, towards the viewer. The proper rear left leg is lifted to scratch behind its ear. Made of jade (white.translucent).
IMG
![图片[1]-figure BM-1947-0712.487-China Archive](https://chinaarchive.net/Song dynasty/Jades/mid_00329060_001.jpg)
![图片[2]-figure BM-1947-0712.487-China Archive](https://chinaarchive.net/Song dynasty/Jades/mid_00187096_001.jpg)
Comments:Rawson 1995:This carving provides a good example of the problems involved in dating. The ears of the animal form S-shaped ridges that resemble the ears of a jade bear found with other animals near the tomb of the Han emperor Yuandi (r. 48-33 BC). The quality of the jade and the brown markings on the two bears are quite similar, but the postures are completely different, forcing us to ask wheteher the posture of the British Museum bear is acceptable as belonging to the Han period. There are, however, other bears in the posture of the British Museum piece, including one in the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Washington DC. Another very similar bear came from the tomb of an official of the Qing period, one Bi Yuan (d. 1797), at Nanjing. The fact that there are several versions of a Han type of bear indicates first of all that such pieces were produced in stereotyped forms, and secondly that the process of copying was widespread, making the separation of copies of different dates particularly difficult.
Materials:jade
Technique:carved
Subjects:animal
Dimensions:Length: 8.20 centimetres
Description:
Figure of a bear. The animal is crouching on the ground, head turned sideways, jaw open, towards the viewer. The proper rear left leg is lifted to scratch behind its ear. Made of jade (white.translucent).
IMG
Comments:Rawson 1995:This carving provides a good example of the problems involved in dating. The ears of the animal form S-shaped ridges that resemble the ears of a jade bear found with other animals near the tomb of the Han emperor Yuandi (r. 48-33 BC). The quality of the jade and the brown markings on the two bears are quite similar, but the postures are completely different, forcing us to ask wheteher the posture of the British Museum bear is acceptable as belonging to the Han period. There are, however, other bears in the posture of the British Museum piece, including one in the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Washington DC. Another very similar bear came from the tomb of an official of the Qing period, one Bi Yuan (d. 1797), at Nanjing. The fact that there are several versions of a Han type of bear indicates first of all that such pieces were produced in stereotyped forms, and secondly that the process of copying was widespread, making the separation of copies of different dates particularly difficult.
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![[Qing Dynasty] British female painter—Elizabeth Keith, using woodblock prints to record China from the late Qing Dynasty to the early Republic of China—1915-China Archive](https://chinaarchive.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/image-191x300.png)
