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‘HAN EIGHT-CUT’ AND ‘THREE TALISMAN TREASURES’ ‘Han eight-cut’ is a unique decorative technique in ancient Chinese lapidary using negative carving, and appeared as early as the late Warring States period on jade bi discs, becoming fully developed in the Han Dynasty. This technique is often used on jade cicadas, jade pigs, jade Weng Zhong figures, jade ‘compass’ pendants, and jade bi discs with kui dragons or kui phoenixes. It makes use of an angled wheel cut called ‘daxiedao’ (great angled cut) with very sharp and clean edges where the wheel comes into contact with the stone both perpendicularly and at an angle. Its style is bold and powerful as if cut by a knife, and the design is composed of a mere few strokes without showing signs of composite wheel marks. The grooves are polished to a high finish even down to the deepest recess. Compared to examples from other periods, jade cicadas from the Han Dynasty are very distinctive. Carved in ‘Han eight-cut’ style, they have a high forehead, bulging eyes and a wide neck. They are decorated with sparse lines, with the body delineated with simply carved grooves; the overall appearance is neat, symmetrical and elegant. Jade funerary objects became very fashionable in the Han Dynasty, and those made to be placed in the hands of the deceased are called wo (to hold). After mid Western Han period, jade pigs were used as wo. These jade pigs are carved with ‘Han eight-cut’ technique to great effect. A jade pig in the Taipei Palace Museum was greatly admired by the Qianlong Emperor, who mistook it for a bear and composed a poem On Han Jade Bear for it to be inscribed on the base: In the ancient time this style is made, who dare try it in the present day? It’s neither alike nor not-alike; a zen puzzle by the lapidary of jade. (Qinggaozong yuzhishi, Vol. 5, Juan 95) The jade Weng Zhong figures from Han Dynasty are also carved in the ‘Han eight-cut’ technique. The face only features eyes and mouth, delineated with three to five short incised lines, like the character 品 written upside down. The head is oval above a triangle-shaped beard, and the figure is wearing a loose robe with broad sleeves crossed at the front. Weng Zhong, surname Ruan, was a brave general serving under Qin Shihuang emperor. He was said to be one zhang and 3 chi in height (almost 400 centimeters), and extremely gallant. He was stationed in Lintao by the emperor to ward off the Xiongnu tribe. After he died, the emperor ordered a bronze statue of him made and placed it outside the Sima Gate of Xianyang Palace as guardian. Thereafter, bronze or stone guardian figures outside a palace or a tomb are called Weng Zhong. Han lapidaries carved miniature Weng Zhong figures the size of a thumb to be suspended from the belt as protection talisman. Jade Weng Zhong figure, jade ‘compass’ pendant and jade gangmao pendant are called the Three Talisman Treasures of Han Dynasty. Sinan is a compass of ancient China shaped like a spoon above a base plate; regardless of the position of the base plate, the free spinning spoon always settles on the ≈direction of the south. Divination was very popular in the Han Dynasty, so the base plates are often carved with the heavenly stems, earthly branches and eight trigrams etc. to aid the diviner in predicting whether any given situation is auspicious. As jade is said to ward off evil, sinan-shaped jade pendant were made to be an auspicious talisman to be worn as ‘compass’ pendants. The ‘compass’ pendants are shaped as two flattened cylinder connected with a waist section, below a spoon and a plate on the top. The surface is normally unadorned, and they are often drilled with an attachment hole, sometimes at the waist, or on the handle of the spoon. Although there are no gangmao pendants in the current sale, they are noteworthy for their importance. Gangmao and yanmao pendants are often grouped together. They are both of rectangular cuboid shape around 2 cm. high and 1 cm. wide. They are pierced lengthways in the centre for attachment. The four long sides are inscribed each with 8 characters for a total of 32 characters, or 10 characters on the first side and 8 characters on the rest (34 characters). The inscription is written in yishu script, which is one of the eight scripts of Qin Dynasty. The gangmao pendants have the characters gangmao in the first line, while yanmao pendants have the characters yanmao in the first line – both inscriptions are invocations for protection from the gods and for warding off misfortune.

TWO JADE CICADAS

QIN DYNASTY (221-206 BC)

Details

TWO JADE CICADAS
QIN DYNASTY (221-206 BC)
Both are carved to the top with crisp grooves to delineate the head, pronounced eyes and wings. The underside of the larger cicada is incised with fine markings in representation of the legs; the other undecorated.
1 9/16 in. (4 cm.) and 1 3/8 in. (3.5 cm.) long, boxes

Provenance

Lantien Shanfang Collection, acquired in Taipei in 1991

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Liang-Lin Chen (陳良玲) VP, Senior Specialist Head of Sale

lchen@christies.com +852 2978 6725

Lot Essay

Compare to a jade cicada of with similar markings, dating to the Qin dynasty, unearthed from a tomb in Beichitou village in Xi’an (fig. 1), illustrated in Zhongguo yuqi quanji, vol. 4, Shijiazhuang, 1993, pl. 12.

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