#7. Jade cong. Liangzhu, China. 3300–2200 BCE. Carved jade.

Art Historical Background

Since I teach this image as an introduction into breaking down the four parts of art historical analysis: Form, Function, Content & Context (FFCC), that is how I am going to do the Art Historical Background in this blog post:

Form

First off, I focus on the material: jade. Interestingly enough, jade is too hard to “carve” with a knife, so it must be abraded with coarse sand and water. I am not an artist so sometimes I have difficulty understanding artistic processes. I always look for videos that can illuminate it for me; here is a video from youtube on making jade art pieces: Asian Art Museum: Working Jade. The man in the video is using modern tools, image if you will the Neolithic period…how much MORE difficult it was and then look at the precision they were able to obtain on the Jade cong. HOLY SMOKES!

We have to then also define what is a cong (pronounced “ts-oh-ng”). A cong is a tube with a square cross-section and a circular hole.” We can see that each side is decorated with a repeating pattern of lines and circles, and it is symmetrical on all sides. That’s really all I can say without crossing into content (see below).

Function

These jade congs (and bi) have been found in burials scattered around the individual and show minimal signs of wear. This tells us that their function was strictly ritualistic and funerary. We take it for granted that people are buried with stuff when they die but those actions demonstrates a complex set of beliefs, including an afterlife. Although we do not have an written records or depictions of their funerals they must have been decently elaborate affairs with ceremony, ritual, and faith.

We also see a disparity in the burials of this time period: not everyone is buried with these objects. We can clearly see that this is not an egalitarian society; some are “deserving”of these ritualistic materials when many others are not. Again, we cannot tell the significance of these jade congs: is it only for the wealthy or noble class or does it have some other social symbolic significance? At a minimum, there is definitely a divide in the “have and have nots.”

FYI: the Anthropomorphic stele is another images in the Prehistoric 250 that is funerary in nature.

Content

Ah, here is where speculation abounds! What can the markings on the side mean? Why have a hole in the center if it was never carried? Does this symbolize something related to the afterlife? Until we have writing, we can only guess…educated guesses of course!

Scholars have hypothesized that the repeating pattern of lines and circles make a face. (I honestly have NOOOOO idea where they see that because I did not and do not lol). However, I am going to trust those people with a Ph.D. after their name on this one. In addition to “seeing” a face, scholars have suggested that these faces may represent deities or spirits. This part is most likely extracted from their funerary function. Khan Academy says: “these faces are derived from a combination of a manlike figure and a mysterious beast.” Ok…I’ll take your word for it!

Context

We are in Neolithic China where a settled civilization has formed in the river valley. Jade production flourished in Neolithic China, specifically during the Liangzhu phase (notice that is the period of our jade piece). As we saw with the form, jade is extremely difficult to shape into an art piece, therefore that tells us that these artists are highly trained and specialized. This job professionalization points to an organized and stratified society in which some members are “released” from the burdens of farming to create luxury goods and there are those who “deserve” those luxury goods.