發表於2024-12-23
本畫冊選取目前中國有代錶性的古代玉器,用精美圖片和通俗易懂的文字,從商周到明清以時代劃分,係統介紹玉器在中國的發展演變及分布,且每件器物說明文字簡潔生動,知識點豐富,可讀性強,展示瞭中國玉器的悠久曆史和獨特魅力。
The “Chinese National Treasure” series introduce precious Chinese ancient cultural relics.
CONTENTS
Preface
Jades of the Neolithic Age
Jades of the Xia and Shang Dynasties
Jades of the Western Zhou Dynasty
Jades of the Spring and Autumn Period
Jades of the Warring States Period
Jades of the Qin, Han, Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern Dynasties
Jades of the Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties
Jades of the Song, Liao, Kin and Yuan Dynasties
Jades of the Ming Dynasty
Jades of the Qing Dynasty
A Record of Auction of Collections
A Brief Chronology of Chinese History
JADES of the Ming Dynasty
The development of jade carvings in the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) could be divided into three periods of early, middle and late stages. In the early stage, the jades still kept the style of the Yuan Dynasty; in the middle stage, formed a style which was quite similar with that of the Han Dynasty; in the late stage, became complicated and philistine on both of shapes and designs.
The types can be divided into various categories including ritual object served to the imperial court, jade vessel, animal shaped display, stationery, decoration and imitation of the ancient objects.
The jades of the Ming Dynasty are left in a large quantity thanks to three promotions made at that time: first, changed the social system to upgrade the treatments and social status of the jade craftsmen; second, renovated the jade carving tools to increase the production efficiency; third, set up cluster–based jadeware manufacture system due to the economic growth and the enlarged market demands.
The main motifs of this period are the commonly seen human figures, animals, plants and objects, always carved on the solid jade materials. The carving techniques get developed by combining the methods of painting, sculpture and gold–silver filigree with the traditional methods of concave lines, relief and round sculpture. The openwork skills reach the top level. The designs are mostly in those auspicious patterns including the flowers such as lotus, peony, Ganoderma Lucidum, pine, bamboo and plum; animals such as dragon, phoenix and deer; and also the human figures. Difference is that the designs of the early and middle stages are plumy and vivid while the designs of the late stage are too complicated and lack of vigor.
To sum up, the jades of the Ming Dynasty settle a solid base on all the aspects for the jades of the Qing Dynasty for its approaching to the top splendid achievements.
Deer, as a motif of jade carving, appeared at latest during the Shang and Zhou dynasties, and still plays an important role today on the art works.
This piece is carved in a natural style keeping all the parts in a good balance. The powerful carving lines show the good skill succeeding from Song and Yuan dynasties while the poor polishing represents the bold style of the Ming Dynasty. Since the Chinese characters of "deer" and "ample salary" are in the same pronunciation; also deer and Ganoderma Lucidum are the important parts of the auspicious designs of the Ming Dynasty, people always regard them as the auspicious symbols.
This piece is not only a displayed decoration for appreciating, but also a paperweight for actual usage.
Preface
Among the numerous forms of the wonderful cultural heritage in the Chinese history, jade carving is definitely a unique art style. It is not only the cultural evidence to the historical development of human beings, but also the elegant and valuable artwork. During the very long times from past dynasties up to now, it's always one of the highlights collected by the museums and art galleries, and getting more attentions from the common people and private collectors as well.
To appreciate the ancient Chinese jades, the first issue that people face is the material of jade. What is jade? The understandings are different between the ancient and modern societies.
In ancient times, jade was explained as "beautiful stones that have five virtues". The "five virtues" were referred to as the natural characters of the stones including color, texture, transparency, hardness and specific gravity. But what kinds of stones could be regarded as "beautiful stones with five virtues"? Some people took the specific gravity, one of the "five virtues", as the most important figure to tell the jade from stone. This kind of method did help for some kinds of materials but not for all. With this situation, the saying "beautiful stones are jades" could be understood as a generalized concept. It included not only Khotan jade, Dushan jade and emerald etc., but also those found in more broad areas such as Xiuyan jade (category of serpentine), Mixian jade (quartzite category), turquoise, lapis lazuli, malachite, amber and coral as well. All of these different materials were used very often for jade carving in ancient China, especially in the early times.
In modern society, the common people still keep the above mentioned traditional concept to clarify the jade materials, but the scientific and technical professionals make a totally different solution, in accordance with the theory of mineralogy. They divide the jade materials into three categories of gem, jade and color stone. The details are as follows:
All the materials with hardness over Mohs 7 are named gem. As a result, crystal, agate and chalcedony which were regarded as jade materials in the past are now turned to be the gem.
All the materials with hardness between Mohs 6 and 7 are named jade and divided into two types of jadeite (emerald) and nephrite (Khotan jade).
All the materials with hardness from Mohs4 to 6 are named color stone. Then Xiuyan jade, Dushan jade, Lantian jade and turquoise which were regarded as jade materials long time ago are now turned to be stone.
More serious thing is that, according to this method, amber and coral in hardness below Mohs 4 cannot be fit in any categories. Therefore, we can clearly see that this kind of specific definition to the jade is not suitable for appreciating the ancient Chinese jade materials and may cause confusions, although it does meet the requests of modern mineralogy and the international standards. Reemphasized, we should still follow the traditional generalized concept of "beautiful stones" to define the Chinese ancient jades.
The jades that we talk about in generalized concept are always in varied types and coming from different locations, but they also have some characters in common. Following these common features, we can do the jade appreciations with the points listed below.
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中國國寶係列:中國古代玉器(英文版) [Jades of Ancient China] 下載 mobi pdf epub txt 電子書 格式 2024
中國國寶係列:中國古代玉器(英文版) [Jades of Ancient China] 下載 mobi epub pdf 電子書中國國寶係列:中國古代玉器(英文版) [Jades of Ancient China] mobi epub pdf txt 電子書 格式下載 2024