This extraordinary catalogue accompanies a major traveling exhibition of 128 works of bronze, jade, and clay dating from the thirteenth century B.C. to the second century A.D. The majority of these stunningly sophisticated works of art--among the most unusual and spectacular produced anywhere in the ancient world--all come from a startling archaeological discovery made just fourteen years ago at the previously unknown site of Sanxingdui in Sichuan province. The discovery of this Bronze Age civilization fundamentally changes our understanding of Chinese history.
Representing fifteen hundred years of cultural production, these striking objects are extraordinarily varied, ranging from a monumental standing figure and an almost life-size bronze horse to ritual vessels, masks, and bronze heads of fantastic-looking supernatural beings, finely honed jade knives and ritual blades, and marvelous clay statuettes. Most have never before been seen in the United States. The exhibition and catalogue represent a unique international effort to continue the study of ancient Sichuan.
Under the leadership of Robert Bagley, an international team of scholars contributes eight essays on the archaeological discoveries at Sanxingdui, the art historical importance of these objects, and the new history of ancient China they tell. Contributors are Michèle Pirazzoli-t'Serstevens, Jessica Rawson, Lothar von Falkenhausen, Alain Thote, Jenny F. So, Michael Nylan, and the Seattle Art Museum's Curator of Chinese Art, Jay Xu. In addition to the essays, there are individual entries for each object, nearly all of which have been newly photographed for this publication.
Ancient Sichuan contributes to a revolutionary change in perceptions of ancient Chinese civilization, providing an unprecedented opportunity to explore the art, material culture, and spiritual life of ancient China.
* * *
Ancient Sichuan is the catalog of a spectacular exhibition organized by the Seattle Art Museum. Recent discoveries from Sichuan Province are revolutionizing the history of ancient China, showing that the traditional cradle of Chinese culture, along the Yellow River, had sophisticated competition from distant regions 3,000 years ago. Stately bronze trees and huge bronze heads--some with gold-foil masks, some with strange alien eyes on foot-long stalks--are the centerpieces of the show. Dating from the 12th century B.C., these exotic objects, found with elephant tusks and ritual jade weapons in two vast sacrificial pits, are artifacts of a previously unknown culture whose existence took archaeologists by surprise. These pieces alone would be sufficient for a groundbreaking exhibition, but the show and this beautifully designed catalog take the distinctive nature of local Sichuan culture into Han times, 1,000 years later. Lively ceramic sculptures of entertainers and erotic scenes on wall tiles demonstrate the creativity and exuberance of ancient Sichuan society. Essays by leading scholars in the field compellingly describe the context and significance of the often breathtaking objects. A wealth of comparative material, photographs, and drawings explains how original and different Sichuan culture was from what has long been considered the Yellow River Bronze Age mainstream. With the finds illustrated in Ancient Sichuan, the cradle of Chinese civilization begins to look like a large double bed. --John Stevenson
Author(s): Robert Bagley (Editor)
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Year: 2002
Language: English
Pages: 360
Tags: Chinese art, Ancient Chinese art, Sanxingdui, Sichuan
Cover
Contents
Director’s preface
Curatorʻs acknowledgements
Editor’s preface
Map of China
Map of Sichuan
Map of Chengdu Region
Introduction, Part 1. Sichuan before the Warring States period
The geographic setting
The Neolithic context
Discoveries at Sanxingdui
The character of the Sanxingdui culture
Pottery, periodization, and the city wall
The sacrificial pits
Contacts suggested by the bronzes and jade
The Chengdu settlement and Sichuan after Sanxingdui
Introduction, Part 2. Sichuan in the Warring States and Han periods
Eastern Sichuan in the Warring States period (5th to 3rd c. BC)
What traditional history tells us
What archaeology tells us
Cultural elements specific to Ba and Shu
A society only partly assimilated
The far western regions (c. 5th to 1st c. BC)
Eastern Sichuan in the Han period (206 BC – AD 220)
Images of a land of plenty: the Eastern Han period (AD 25-220)
1. Bronze at Sanxingdui
Locally cast bronzes: fabrication
Soldering/Brazing
Running on
Locally cast bronzes: character and function
Vessels
Appendix: elemental analysis and lead-isotope ratios
Catalog
1. Sheath
2. Figure on pedestal
3. Figure with headdress
4. Head
5. Head
6. Head
7. Head
8. Head
9. Head
10. Head
11. Head
12. Head
13. Head
14. Head
15. Head
16. Head
17. Head
18. Mask
19. Mask
20. Mask
21. Mask
22. Mask with protruding pupils
23. Mask with protruding pupils and trunk
24a. Plaque of taotie face
24b. Plaque of taotie face
25. Seated human figure
26. Plaque in the form of a kneeling figure
27. Tree
28 Tree (fragment)
29. Bird with human head
30. Bird on a post
31. Bird from a tree
32. Rooster
33. Bird’s head
34. Clapper bell
35. Clapper bell in the shape of a bird
36. Hybrid figure standing on birds (fragment)
37. Tube with dragon
38. Snake
39. Tiger appliqué
40. Tiger
41. Circular appliqué
42a. Pair of diamond-shaped appliqués
42b. Set of four triangular appliqués
42c. Set of eight triangular appliqués
43. Kneeling woman bearing a zun
44. Zun
45. Zun
46. Zun
47. Zun
48. Lei
49. Lei
50. Bird with high crest
51. Kneeling figure holding a forked blade
2. Jade and stone at Sanxingdui
Materials and techniques
Shapes, sizes, and functions
Sanxingdui and its neighbors
Catalog
52. Forked blade
53. Blade with incised figures
54. Forked blade
55. Forked blade
56. Ge blade
57. Ge blade
58. Ge blade with notched tang
59. Ge blade with notched tang
60. Ge (?) blade with scalloped edges
61. Disk with collared opening
62. Ring with collared opening
63. Elongated oval blade
3. The Chengdu plain in the early first millennium BC: Zhuwajie
The two hoards
Shang and Zhou ritual bronzes in a Sichuan context
Shape and decoration of the lei vessels
The date and place of origin of the vessels
The weapons and tools
Catalog
64. Lei
65. Lei
66. Lei
67. Lei
68. Ge blade
69. Halberd (ji)
70. Spearhead
71. Axe (fu or yue)
72. Ge blade
4. The archaeology of Eastern Sichuan at the end of the Bronze Age (5th to 3rd c. BC)
The site of Moutuo
Boat-coffin burials
The Majiaxiang tomb
Catalog
73. Hu with pictorial decoration
74. Fanghu
75. Fanghu
76. Chime of fourteen niuzhong
77. Handbell (zheng)
78. Large bell (chunyu)
79. Ge blade from a halberd (ji)
80. Dagger blade
81. Dagger
82. Ge blade
83. Sheath with two daggers
84. Seal
85. Set of five triangular ge blades with round opening
86. Set of five triangular ge blades with small round opening and taotie decoration
87. Set of five cross-shaped ge blades
88. Group of five shouldered socketed axes
89. Tanged short sword
90. Hilted sword
91. Spearhead
92. Pair of triangular spearheads
93. Two-colored spearhead
94. Ge blade (Er shi liu nian Shu shou Wu ge)
5. Tombs and tomb furnishings of the Eastern Han period (AD 25-220)
Tombs and tomb furnishings in North China before the Qin dynasty
The mausoleum complex of the first emperor of Qin
Han princely tombs
Eastern Han Sichuan
Catalog
95. Horse and groom
96. Head of a horse
97. Money tree
98. Money tree
99. Brick decorated in relief with scene of gateway with towers
100. Brick with chariot and horseman crossing a bridge
101. Brick with banqueting scene
102. Brick with scene of acrobatic performance
103. Brick with scene of wine making or alcohol distillation
104. Brick with scene of salt production
105. Brick with scene of a lotus pond, hunting, and fishing
106. Brick with scenes of hunting and harvesting
107. Brick depicting an erotic scene
108. Brick with Xiwangmu, attendants, and a worshipper
109. Brick depicting the deities Nüwa and Fuxi
110. Figure of a squatting drummer
111. Figure of a standing drummer
112. Figure of a musician
113. Figure of a dancer
114. Figure of a listener
115. Kneeling woman
116. Standing figure of an attendant
117. Figure of a peasant-soldier with spade and shovel
118. Figure of a tomb guardian (zhenmuyong)
Afterword. The legacies of the Chengdu plain
Appendix: Additional exhibition information
Lei
Lei
Handbell (zheng)
Ge blade
Money tree
Mirror
Mirror
Figure of woman nursing a baby
Chinese character glossary
List of works cited
Contributors
Index
