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Lot Essay
HAN DYNASTY BI, HUAN AND PENDANTS
In one of the oldest Chinese dictionary, Erya, it is recorded: ‘Those with a wall thickness twice the diameter of the aperture, we call bi; those with a diameter of the aperture twice the thickness of the wall, we call yuan; those with equal thickness of wall to diameter of aperture, we call huan.’ Thus the proportion of the aperture to the wall determine whether a jade disc is called bi, yuan or huan.
However, from excavated objects we find that there is not a strict ratio when fashioning these discs. Therefore, generally speaking, those with a small aperture are called bi, while those with a large aperture are called huan, while yuan is seldom used.
Jade bi discs are the earliest and most enduring type of jade objects made in China. In the Zhouli (Rites of Zhou) it is recorded that:
‘Jade is used to make six objects, in order to pay respects to the heaven, earth and the four directions. The indigo bi for heaven; the yellow cong for earth; the azure gui for east; the vermillion zhang for south; the white hu for west; the black huang for north.’ This shows the high status of bi amongst ritual objects.
The Han Dynasty saw abundant productions of jade bi and huan discs. They come in many different forms: two-tier-decorated bi; three-tier-decorated bi; flanged bi; conjoined bi; and pierced two tiered bi etc., with a wider range of usage. These are richly decorated, with larger, rounder and flatter studs on the grain pattern, rush-mat pattern and nipple pattern, combined with dragon, phoenix, animal, cloud patterns or auspicious characters to stunning effect. The jade huan are often pierced with expressive dragon and phoenix decoration in fine craftsmanship.
Jade production in the Han Dynasty, whether in form, decoration or craftsmanship, all reached a zenith in their development. The jade pendants, for example, whether they are in sets or single pendant, their form, decoration and composition are all dynamic and variable, and do not blindly follow previous examples. They are decorated primarily with dragon and phoenix, with chilong and joined cloud scrolls as secondary decoration, and finely executed by techniques such as yousi incised decoration, pierced decoration, relief decoration etc.
In one of the oldest Chinese dictionary, Erya, it is recorded: ‘Those with a wall thickness twice the diameter of the aperture, we call bi; those with a diameter of the aperture twice the thickness of the wall, we call yuan; those with equal thickness of wall to diameter of aperture, we call huan.’ Thus the proportion of the aperture to the wall determine whether a jade disc is called bi, yuan or huan.
However, from excavated objects we find that there is not a strict ratio when fashioning these discs. Therefore, generally speaking, those with a small aperture are called bi, while those with a large aperture are called huan, while yuan is seldom used.
Jade bi discs are the earliest and most enduring type of jade objects made in China. In the Zhouli (Rites of Zhou) it is recorded that:
‘Jade is used to make six objects, in order to pay respects to the heaven, earth and the four directions. The indigo bi for heaven; the yellow cong for earth; the azure gui for east; the vermillion zhang for south; the white hu for west; the black huang for north.’ This shows the high status of bi amongst ritual objects.
The Han Dynasty saw abundant productions of jade bi and huan discs. They come in many different forms: two-tier-decorated bi; three-tier-decorated bi; flanged bi; conjoined bi; and pierced two tiered bi etc., with a wider range of usage. These are richly decorated, with larger, rounder and flatter studs on the grain pattern, rush-mat pattern and nipple pattern, combined with dragon, phoenix, animal, cloud patterns or auspicious characters to stunning effect. The jade huan are often pierced with expressive dragon and phoenix decoration in fine craftsmanship.
Jade production in the Han Dynasty, whether in form, decoration or craftsmanship, all reached a zenith in their development. The jade pendants, for example, whether they are in sets or single pendant, their form, decoration and composition are all dynamic and variable, and do not blindly follow previous examples. They are decorated primarily with dragon and phoenix, with chilong and joined cloud scrolls as secondary decoration, and finely executed by techniques such as yousi incised decoration, pierced decoration, relief decoration etc.