Jade cong and bi mistery - CHINA

Jade Cong, c. 2500 B.C.E., Liangzhu culture, 3.4 x 12.7 cm, China © 2003 Private Collection © Trustees of the British Museum

Ancient China includes the Neolithic period (10,000 -2,000 B.C.E.), the Shang dynasty (c. 1500-1050 B.C.E.) and the Zhou dynasty (1050-221 B.C.E.). Each age was distinct, but common to each period were grand burials for the elite from which a wealth of objects have been excavated.

The Neolithic Period, defined as the age before the use of metal, witnessed a transition from a nomadic existence to one of settled farming. People made different pottery and stone tools in their regional communities. Stone workers employed jade to make prestigious, beautifully polished versions of utilitarian stone tools, such as axes, and also to make implements with possible ceremonial or protective functions. The status of jade continues throughout Chinese history. Pottery also reached a high level with the introduction of the potter’s wheel.

Neolithic Liangzhu culture

A group of Neolithic peoples grouped today as the Liangzhu culture lived in the Jiangsu province of China during the third millennium B.C.E. Their jades, ceramics and stone tools were highly sophisticated.

Cong

They used two distinct types of ritual jade objects:
a disc, later known as a bi, and a tube, later known as a cong.
The main types of cong have a square outer section around a circular inner part, and a circular hole, though jades of a bracelet shape also display some of the characteristics of cong.

They clearly had great significance, but despite the many theories the meaning and purpose of bi and cong remain a mystery. They were buried in large numbers: one tomb alone had 25 bi and 33 cong. Spectacular examples have been found at all the major archaeological sites.
Jade Cong, c. 2500 B.C.E., 49 cm high, China © Private Collection © Trustees of the British Museum

The principal decoration on cong of the Liangzhu period was the face pattern, which may refer to spirits or deities. On the square-sectioned pieces, like the examples here, the face pattern is placed across the corners, whereas on the bracelet form it appears in square panels. These faces are derived from a combination of a man-like figure and a mysterious beast.

Cong are among the most impressive yet most enigmatic of all ancient Chinese jade artifacts. Their function and meaning are completely unknown. Although they were made at many stages of the Neolithic and early historic period, the origin of the cong in the Neolithic cultures of south-east China has only been recognized in the last thirty years.
Cong were extremely difficult and time-consuming to produce. As jade cannot be split like other stones, it must be worked with a hard abrasive sand. This one is exceptionally long and may have been particularly important in its time.
 
Jade disc, or bi, Liangzhu culture, c. 2500 B.C.E., 18 cm in diameter © Private Collection, © Trustees of the British Museum

Bi

Stone rings were being made by the peoples of eastern China as early as the fifth millennium B.C.E. Jade discs have been found carefully laid on the bodies of the dead in tombs of the Hongshan culture (about 3800-2700 B.C.E.), a practice which was continued by later Neolithic cultures. Large and heavy jade discs such as this example, appear to have been an innovation of the Liangzhu culture (about 3000-2000 B.C.E.), although they are not found in all major Liangzhu tombs. The term bi is applied to wide discs with proportionately small central holes.

The most finely carved discs or bi of the best stone (like the example above) were placed in prominent positions, often near the stomach and the chest of the deceased. Other bi were aligned with the body. Where large numbers of discs are found, usually in small piles, they tend to be rather coarse, made of stone of inferior quality that has been worked in a cursory way.
We do not know what the true significance of these discs was, but they must have had an important ritual function as part of the burial. This is an exceptionally fine example, with the two faces very highly polished.

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Suggested readings:
J. Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing (London, The British Museum Press, 1995, reprinted 2002).
J. Rawson (ed.), The British Museum book of Chinese Art (London, The British Museum Press, 1992).



© Trustees of the British Museum

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  Ritual implement (cong), approx. 3300–2200 B.C.E. China; Jiangsu province or Zhejiang province. Nephrite. C0urtesy of the Asian Art Museum, The Avery Brundage Collection, B60J603.

What is this object? Where does it come from?

Cong (pronounced tsong) are unusual jade objects found among the graves of the Liangzhu culture in the eastern province of Jiangsu, around Lake Tai, near present-day Shanghai. Cong are tubeshaped objects consisting of a circular tube shape with protruding square corners. They appear in short segments (like this piece) or in longer pieces with decorative sections along the length of the object.

What was it used for?

Cong tubes, along with the bi discs (see image below) that are often found with the cong, are some of the most enigmatic objects in ancient Chinese culture. They are the principle jade objects found in Liangzhu culture sites. Many interpretations have been given. Later Zhou and Han texts refer to the ritual use of cong and bi  representing the earth and the heavens, but we can’t assume this was their original meaning. Some scholars have suggested that the round/square shape may have developed from a bracelet shape. While it is unclear what their function is, cong are found in the tombs of people who must have held some important position or rank within the society.
Ritual implement (bi disc), approx. 3300-2200 B.C.E. China; Jiangsu province or Zhejiang province. Nephrite. Courtesy of the Asian Art Museum, The Avery Brundage Collection, B60J957.

Cong often carry minutely incised decorations showing mask-like faces. In this case, there is a small face on the corner of the cong, made up of two round eyes and a curved, oval shape suggesting a nose or mouth. Above the face are two rows of incised lines. Some scholars have suggested that these splitface designs might have influenced the later design of taotie masks on the bronzes from the Shang dynasty (approx. 1600–1050 BCE).

How was it made?

Jade is extremely hard and cannot be carved. It must be worn away with using drills or saws. Jades such as this would have taken a long time to create. Some scholars have suggested that these jades were heated, in order to be worked with such fine lines. Others have suggested they were ritually burned as part of the burial process. Burning or heating might account for the lighter color of some jade cong.