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Lot Essay
There is a poem in The Ode (Shijing) about archer’s ring:
The leaf of pea-vine,
The boy’s wearing it like an archer’s ring.
He thinks he’s wearing an archer’s ring,
But can he fool me?
He is looking all proper,
But his dangling belt is shaking.
This is making fun of a child pretending to be an adult wearing an archer’s ring. The leaf he is wearing has no weight, so the belt attaching the ‘archer’s ring’ shakes when he walks, a tell-tale sign. As scholars in Western Han noted, ‘she, archer’s ring, only worn by those who knows archery,’ therefore only strong adults who could use an arrow would wear archer’s rings.
Amongst the jades excavated in 1976 in the tomb of Fuhao, there is an archer’s ring, cylindrical in form with a flat base and a diagonally-cut top. It is wearable on either the right or left thumb. The front of the ring is carved with an animal mask with large buffalo-like horns, two swept back ears and rectangular eyes. It is nose-less but pierced with two attachment holes below the eyes. The reverse of the ring has a horizontal groove for bow strings. To use the ring, first wear it on the thumb, secured to the wrist with strings and use the groove for pulling the bow string to shoot. It is a purely utilitarian object made for archery.
Archer’s rings remain utilitarian in the Spring and Autumn period, but in the early Warring States period, archer’s ring-form objects started to appear, such as the example carved with phoenix in the Beijing Palace Museum, which is purely decorative, cannot be worn on the finger and dose not have any utilitarian functions. As they lose their practical uses, these archer’s ring-form objects gradually became flattened, unfit for pulling strings, and turning into purely decorative pendants.
Jade archer’s rings in Early Western Han period follow the style of late Warring States with some variations. Firstly, the handle-like protrusion for hooking bow strings has largely turned into a flange carved with phoenixes or birds. The seemingly functional ‘archer’s ring’ has gradually turned into archer’s ring-form pendant that is purely decorative. Secondly, the flange is divided into left and right sections much like two ears, and come in many designs, some carved as two stylized phoenixes, others carved as equally sized but asymmetrical parts. Thirdly, since these ‘archer’s rings’ are used as decorative pendants, they have become flattened, the central apertures reduced, and the decorations are more elaborate.
In mid Western Han period the utilitarian archer’s rings have all but disappeared, while archer’s ring-form pendants were en vogue. Apart from getting flatter, the flange designs were becoming ever more exaggerated, and new forms started to appear. An archer’s ring-form pendant excavated in the Western Han tomb in Ding county, Hebei, measuring 8 cm. long and 3.5 cm. wide, has an elongated shape and very thin body. The flange design is carved as a long-tailed phoenix biting a ribbon in its beak and leaning on a tall tree/bamboo. There are two interesting aspects about this pendant: firstly, the two parts of the flange, normally independent from each other, have now been joined in a single composition surrounding the whole pendant; secondly, the interior aperture is not only smaller, it has also become oval in shape to correspond to the elongated form of the pendant, and visually more pleasing. These new designs also appear on other excavated jade archer’s ring-form pendants of the same period.
In late Han period the archer’s ring-form pendants share certain common characteristics: firstly, the elongation of form continues, and the apertures become ever smaller, only occasionally do larger ones appear, and most are oval in shape; secondly, the two flanges on the right and left have become extraordinarily elaborate, and envelop the whole pendant; thirdly, for reasons of aesthetics, the dragon, tiger, birds or animal decorations on the flanges are also elongated and curvilinear, or incorporated in the cloud scrolls to form a dynamic and sophisticated design, which is very characteristic of the period.
The leaf of pea-vine,
The boy’s wearing it like an archer’s ring.
He thinks he’s wearing an archer’s ring,
But can he fool me?
He is looking all proper,
But his dangling belt is shaking.
This is making fun of a child pretending to be an adult wearing an archer’s ring. The leaf he is wearing has no weight, so the belt attaching the ‘archer’s ring’ shakes when he walks, a tell-tale sign. As scholars in Western Han noted, ‘she, archer’s ring, only worn by those who knows archery,’ therefore only strong adults who could use an arrow would wear archer’s rings.
Amongst the jades excavated in 1976 in the tomb of Fuhao, there is an archer’s ring, cylindrical in form with a flat base and a diagonally-cut top. It is wearable on either the right or left thumb. The front of the ring is carved with an animal mask with large buffalo-like horns, two swept back ears and rectangular eyes. It is nose-less but pierced with two attachment holes below the eyes. The reverse of the ring has a horizontal groove for bow strings. To use the ring, first wear it on the thumb, secured to the wrist with strings and use the groove for pulling the bow string to shoot. It is a purely utilitarian object made for archery.
Archer’s rings remain utilitarian in the Spring and Autumn period, but in the early Warring States period, archer’s ring-form objects started to appear, such as the example carved with phoenix in the Beijing Palace Museum, which is purely decorative, cannot be worn on the finger and dose not have any utilitarian functions. As they lose their practical uses, these archer’s ring-form objects gradually became flattened, unfit for pulling strings, and turning into purely decorative pendants.
Jade archer’s rings in Early Western Han period follow the style of late Warring States with some variations. Firstly, the handle-like protrusion for hooking bow strings has largely turned into a flange carved with phoenixes or birds. The seemingly functional ‘archer’s ring’ has gradually turned into archer’s ring-form pendant that is purely decorative. Secondly, the flange is divided into left and right sections much like two ears, and come in many designs, some carved as two stylized phoenixes, others carved as equally sized but asymmetrical parts. Thirdly, since these ‘archer’s rings’ are used as decorative pendants, they have become flattened, the central apertures reduced, and the decorations are more elaborate.
In mid Western Han period the utilitarian archer’s rings have all but disappeared, while archer’s ring-form pendants were en vogue. Apart from getting flatter, the flange designs were becoming ever more exaggerated, and new forms started to appear. An archer’s ring-form pendant excavated in the Western Han tomb in Ding county, Hebei, measuring 8 cm. long and 3.5 cm. wide, has an elongated shape and very thin body. The flange design is carved as a long-tailed phoenix biting a ribbon in its beak and leaning on a tall tree/bamboo. There are two interesting aspects about this pendant: firstly, the two parts of the flange, normally independent from each other, have now been joined in a single composition surrounding the whole pendant; secondly, the interior aperture is not only smaller, it has also become oval in shape to correspond to the elongated form of the pendant, and visually more pleasing. These new designs also appear on other excavated jade archer’s ring-form pendants of the same period.
In late Han period the archer’s ring-form pendants share certain common characteristics: firstly, the elongation of form continues, and the apertures become ever smaller, only occasionally do larger ones appear, and most are oval in shape; secondly, the two flanges on the right and left have become extraordinarily elaborate, and envelop the whole pendant; thirdly, for reasons of aesthetics, the dragon, tiger, birds or animal decorations on the flanges are also elongated and curvilinear, or incorporated in the cloud scrolls to form a dynamic and sophisticated design, which is very characteristic of the period.