Period:Song dynasty Production date:10thC-13thC
Materials:jade
Technique:carved, incised, pierced,
Subjects:dragon
Dimensions:Height: 4.70 centimetres Length: 7.80 centimetres
Description:
A white jade court headdress.
IMG
![图片[1]-head-dress BM-2022-3034.208-China Archive](https://chinaarchive.net/Song dynasty/Jades/566_.jpg)
Comments:Carved in shallow relief on the front in archaic style with a coiled dragon-beast shown full face, with a flying mane of finely incised hair rising into the twin shaped arches of the projecting panel, with two further dragons around the narrow sides with their bodies would around the circular holes pierced through the ends for the hairpin, below horizontal apertures of teardrop shape, and with smaller dragons at either end on the back and in a small oval reserve at the base of the back above the projecting rim, the crown divided into five rounded lobes and very well hollowed on the interior, the white stone with natural markings in reddish brown; with a dark green jade pin. Song or Yuan dynasty, 12thC-14thC. The three-dimensional form of this ornament was intended to enclose a topknot of hair. While the inside of the block is hollow, the top is divided into five rounded ribs, which are contained within a shaped frame. At the front is a panel crowned by a shaped scalloped edge, within which is extremely fine, low relief carving of four dragons, whose coiled bodies fill the centre side and back panels. These dragons have long sinuous bodies and feline heads, typical of feline dragons, based upon those employed in the Han dynasty. Their manes are represented by fine striated incised lines. The principal dragon occupies the centre panel, with the subordinate dragons intertwined also on the centre panel, their heads occupying the side panels. The fourth dragon is on the back panel. Holes for the pin are located in the side panels, and there are two further teardrop holes above them. The surface of the white jade is exceptionally silky and smooth to the touch. Such head-dresses are known from paintings, but actual excavated examples dating from before the late Ming are rare. The underlying ridged form, combined with an upstanding scalloped frame,. is seen in court headdresses as early as the Tang period. This type also appears in figure painting attributed to the eleventh to fourteenth century, as for examples in versions of the Classic Of Filial Piety (Xiao jing), belonging to the Tang family collection and the National Palace Museum, Taipei. An actual example in silver, with a rounded scalloped frame, was found in a hoard in Sichuan province. Ornaments in gold and jade have been found in Ming tombs. Feline dragons appear in the late Song and Yuan periods when ancient forms were being deliberately revived. Among the earliest examples datable to the Yuan period on the basis of excavated evidence is a creature on the lid of a jade hu-shaped vase from the tomb of Fan Wenhu in Anhui Province and two plaques from a site in the suburbs of Xi’an. These feline dragons, recalling ancient jade work, belong to entirely new styles, quite distinct from the creatures of the Tang, such as 690 [2014,AsiaLoan,1.236]. See Rawson 1995, pp.337-338, cat.no.25.14.
Materials:jade
Technique:carved, incised, pierced,
Subjects:dragon
Dimensions:Height: 4.70 centimetres Length: 7.80 centimetres
Description:
A white jade court headdress.
IMG
Comments:Carved in shallow relief on the front in archaic style with a coiled dragon-beast shown full face, with a flying mane of finely incised hair rising into the twin shaped arches of the projecting panel, with two further dragons around the narrow sides with their bodies would around the circular holes pierced through the ends for the hairpin, below horizontal apertures of teardrop shape, and with smaller dragons at either end on the back and in a small oval reserve at the base of the back above the projecting rim, the crown divided into five rounded lobes and very well hollowed on the interior, the white stone with natural markings in reddish brown; with a dark green jade pin. Song or Yuan dynasty, 12thC-14thC. The three-dimensional form of this ornament was intended to enclose a topknot of hair. While the inside of the block is hollow, the top is divided into five rounded ribs, which are contained within a shaped frame. At the front is a panel crowned by a shaped scalloped edge, within which is extremely fine, low relief carving of four dragons, whose coiled bodies fill the centre side and back panels. These dragons have long sinuous bodies and feline heads, typical of feline dragons, based upon those employed in the Han dynasty. Their manes are represented by fine striated incised lines. The principal dragon occupies the centre panel, with the subordinate dragons intertwined also on the centre panel, their heads occupying the side panels. The fourth dragon is on the back panel. Holes for the pin are located in the side panels, and there are two further teardrop holes above them. The surface of the white jade is exceptionally silky and smooth to the touch. Such head-dresses are known from paintings, but actual excavated examples dating from before the late Ming are rare. The underlying ridged form, combined with an upstanding scalloped frame,. is seen in court headdresses as early as the Tang period. This type also appears in figure painting attributed to the eleventh to fourteenth century, as for examples in versions of the Classic Of Filial Piety (Xiao jing), belonging to the Tang family collection and the National Palace Museum, Taipei. An actual example in silver, with a rounded scalloped frame, was found in a hoard in Sichuan province. Ornaments in gold and jade have been found in Ming tombs. Feline dragons appear in the late Song and Yuan periods when ancient forms were being deliberately revived. Among the earliest examples datable to the Yuan period on the basis of excavated evidence is a creature on the lid of a jade hu-shaped vase from the tomb of Fan Wenhu in Anhui Province and two plaques from a site in the suburbs of Xi’an. These feline dragons, recalling ancient jade work, belong to entirely new styles, quite distinct from the creatures of the Tang, such as 690 [2014,AsiaLoan,1.236]. See Rawson 1995, pp.337-338, cat.no.25.14.
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