西周时期的葬礼头纱，由十四块连锁的白色软玉和黄褐色内含物组成。它们聚集在一起形成一张人形面孔，嘴周围有明显凸起的尖牙。
A Western Zhou period ritual funerary veil composed of fourteen pieces of interlocking white nephrite with russeted inclusions. They come together to form a humanoid visage with visibly raised tusks curling out from the edges of its mouth.
Introduction
It’s taken us a while to get to the point of writing this. Perhaps due to the pieces’ age and the complex cultural / ritualistic significance that can be associated with this type of artefact. These objects date back to the Western Zhou period. Put in context, the Western Zhou period ended in 771 BC which places the age of this piece at over 2,500 years old.
The Historical
I would refer to this as a tomb artefact; largely because it was designed with one purpose in mind, which was to veil the face of someone recently deceased. The pieces will have been tied with silk string onto a fabric covering which will have been wrapped around the head of the deceased individual. Susan Erickson, in Ways of Facing the Dead, refers to these objects, first seen in the Western Zhou dynasty:
The earliest evidence of jade pieces that were positioned according to facial features and most likely held in formation with cords or by attachment to fabric comes from Western Zhou tombs of individuals of high status. (Erickson, pg. 20).
The practice of draping a veil or jade objects across the face of the deceased would carry through into the burial traditions of both the Eastern Zhou, and later, the Han dynasty. The act was two-fold, one of preservation, as well as final disassociation from the living, as cited by Anna Seidel from an ordinance written on a jar from 175 CE:
Azure is Heaven above, limitless is the Underworld. The dead belong to the realm of Yin, the living belong to the realm of Yang. [The living have] their village home, the dead have their hamlets. The living are under the jurisdiction of Chang’an in the West, the dead are under the jurisdiction of Mount Tai in the East. In joy they do not [remember] each other, [in grief] they do not think of one another. (Erickson, pg. 30)
Placing a veil or mask over the face of the deceased was symbolic of that person departing the world of the living, to the join the world of the dead. The symbolism was important to both the living, observing internment, and the dead, heading on to the next stage of consciousness, or existence.
There is something particularly endearing about the simplicity of design which bears a morbid sense of suspended, surrealism. Thousands of years from its creation, it continues to retain a sense of its original, made purpose. It is at once, both human and yet, very visibly not. Denoting a sense that while a corpse shares stylistic similarities to its living counterpart, it is still, very much a different thing that should not be confused with the other.
While these objects effectively severe the dead from the living, there is a continued adherence to the normalised belief that the dead have a need for physical objects. A normative reference that is still strongly held by a multitude of religions and philosophical practices. Rather than speaking to the dead, it speaks more to the living and their perceptions of life after death. Calling to mind the complex nature of catharsis following the loss of a much beloved individual.
The Material
This particular mask is devoid of any engraved decoration and carved simply from a white nephrite with russet inclusions. The uniformity of the stone suggests that this was carved from only one or two larger pieces of stone with complimentary colours and features. The russet inclusions really give it away, we can see that the points of the horns (moustache) align with the nose, for example. That the chin inclusions align with the mouth and that the inclusions around the inner eye corners align with the bridge of the nose.
The jade is likely to have been gifted during life to the deceased individual or upon their death to raise their position in the afterlife. This ties into the complex ritual funerary beliefs and burgeoning system of exchange during this period, supported by Constance A. Cook’s, in Wealth and the Western Zhou, which discusses the importance of specific objects of exchange during the Western Zhou dynasty. We see, of course, a great importance put on bronze which was used to make ceremonial bronze vessels that were so prolific to this period.
Of greater interest is the reference to other forms of exchange such as cowry, beads, jades, and pottery.
Cowries were not the only items that may have had both a religious and economic function (Zhu Huo, 1984). Metal and jade were also prestige items found in large quantities in elite tombs and recorded as gifts in the inscriptions. (Cook, pg. 265)
What becomes clear from Cook's discourse is that there was a heirarchical system of goods, and financial exchange. Cowry shells, in greater numbers, represented a lower denomination with each subsequent material following the other, until arriving at the highest denomination, bronze. I should note that the ancient Chinese do not reference gold as a form of goods exchange. This is quite fascinating as it points to deviation from the normal standard of exchange to the period in other ancient civilisations such as the Egyptians, Romans, Greeks, et al.
In my studied view, the deviation from gold led to the development of a stronger spiritual connection to the items being traded. Jade continues to be a very spiritual material in Chinese culture.
Bibliography
Erickson, Susan, Ways of Facing the Dead in Ancient China, Arts Asiatiques, 2012, vol. 67 (2012), pp. 19-34.
Cook, Constance A, Wealth and the Western Zhou, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, vol. 60, No. 2 (1997), pp. 253-294.
Xu, Jay, The Cemetery of the Western Zhou Lords of Jin, Artibus Asiae , 1996, Vol. 56, No. 3/4 (1996), pp. 193-231
One similar exhibited at Throckmorton Fine Art, Inc, Mosaic Portrait Mask (inventory #: 81627), Jade: the Stone of Heaven (2021).
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