Period:Western Zhou dynasty Production date:11thC BC-8thC BC
Materials:jade
Technique:incised
Subjects:mammal (deer)
Dimensions:Height: 4.244 centimetres Length: 3.20 centimetres
Description:
Pair of archaic amber coloured jade deer.
IMG
![图片[1]-figure BM-2022-3034.125-China Archive](https://chinaarchive.net/Western Zhou dynasty/Jades/605_1.jpg)
Comments:c. 950BC. The two animals are very similar. They stand with legs slightly braced, the front one straight and the back one slightly bent. Their heads are turned to look over their backs, and in addition to pairs of antlers, they have long, floppy ears. Their eyes are shown as incised circles and incised lines demarcate their haunches and forelegs. One creature has a loop attached to an antler: the other has antlers that curve sharply to create holes for suspension. Deer do not figure prominently among animal pendants. However, a number of examples exist, among the most interesting of which is a crouching deer in the tomb of Fu Hao. Its head is turned to look over its back and its front leg is bent under its body. This form seems to be an early one that was later ignored as creatures were usually shown standing. Such sophisticated poses were probably developed on the borders of China. For parallels of deer crouching and glancing backwards we should probably look to designs from Western Asia. Contact with the steppe areas may also have been responsible for the carving of a pair of small horse-shaped pendants found in Fu Hao’s tomb. Stags with antlers appear only occasionally in the Shang period but are characteristic of the early to middle Western Zhou. Fine examples have come from Shaanxi Baoji Rujiazhuang. See Rawson 1995, p.231, cat.no.12.39.
Materials:jade
Technique:incised
Subjects:mammal (deer)
Dimensions:Height: 4.244 centimetres Length: 3.20 centimetres
Description:
Pair of archaic amber coloured jade deer.
IMG
Comments:c. 950BC. The two animals are very similar. They stand with legs slightly braced, the front one straight and the back one slightly bent. Their heads are turned to look over their backs, and in addition to pairs of antlers, they have long, floppy ears. Their eyes are shown as incised circles and incised lines demarcate their haunches and forelegs. One creature has a loop attached to an antler: the other has antlers that curve sharply to create holes for suspension. Deer do not figure prominently among animal pendants. However, a number of examples exist, among the most interesting of which is a crouching deer in the tomb of Fu Hao. Its head is turned to look over its back and its front leg is bent under its body. This form seems to be an early one that was later ignored as creatures were usually shown standing. Such sophisticated poses were probably developed on the borders of China. For parallels of deer crouching and glancing backwards we should probably look to designs from Western Asia. Contact with the steppe areas may also have been responsible for the carving of a pair of small horse-shaped pendants found in Fu Hao’s tomb. Stags with antlers appear only occasionally in the Shang period but are characteristic of the early to middle Western Zhou. Fine examples have come from Shaanxi Baoji Rujiazhuang. See Rawson 1995, p.231, cat.no.12.39.
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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)
