Jade Cong, c. 2500 B.C.E., Liangzhu culture, 3.4 x 12.7 cm, China © 2003 Private Collection © Trustees of the British Museum
Jade cong. Liangzhu, China. 3300–2200 B.C.E. Carved jade
Like one of many, this was a jade piece with decorative carvings, unique shape, and symbolic purpose. The stone might have held spiritual or symbolic meanings to the early
Content:
- square hollow tube
- lines and circles form human / animal / monster face on each corner
- represent dead ancestors / deities (?)
- engravings are very precise / uniform / intentional
Form:
- Made from jade
- engravings are very precise
- engravings are sanded
- jade is hard to create things out of so people needed lots of time to create this
- shows how important culture believed congs were
- some bas relief some high relief
- some short and some tall
Context:
- The culture this cong is from developed at the Yangzi delta
- had sophisticated neolithic culture
- delta is a place with crops
- people settle down and farm
- no hunt and gather
- people grew lots of rice - no worries about food
- have more free time for leisure etc.
Function:
- show power / wealth
- protect in after life / telling one what happens after death
- found in graves but no writing so unknown
- carvings convey language (?) precise lines
- connection to nature
- animals / monsters / humans carved into it
- significance of the form
- rectangle / external part = earth
- circle / internal part = heavens of the sky / sun
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-asia/imperial-china/neolithic-art-china/v/jade-cong
