Six Ritual Jades - Zhang

We've learned about four of the ancient Chinese Six Ritual Jades:
Cong - earth, Bi - sky/heaven, Huang - North, Hu - West,
and Gui - East.

The last of the Six Ritual Jades was the Zhang.

This was a flat blade or axe, and it was used to mean "South".


(from: wikipedia - chinese jade)


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Six Ritual Jades - Gui

We've learned about four of the ancient Chinese Six Ritual Jades:
Cong - earth, Bi - sky/heaven, Huang - North, and Hu - West.

Another of the Six Ritual Jades was the Gui.

This was a kind of blade, and it was used to mean "East".


(from: wikipedia - commons: jade gui in the western han dynasty)


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Six Ritual Jades - Hu

We just learned about three of the ancient Chinese Six Ritual Jades:
Cong - earth, Bi - sky/heaven, and Huang - North.

Another of the Six Ritual Jades was the Hu.

This was something like a vase, and it was used to mean "West".


(from: wikipedia - category:chinese jade)


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Six Ritual Jades - Huang

We just learned about two of the ancient Chinese Six Ritual Jades: Cong - earth and Bi - sky/heaven.

Another of the Six Ritual Jades was the huang.

This jade sculpture was in the shape of an arc, and was worn as a pendant sometimes.

The arc shape was made for the direction of "North".

Sometimes the ends of these sculptures were carved into tigers or dragons.



(from: wikipedia - huang (jade))


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Six Ritual Jades - Cong

Let's keep learning about the ancient Chinese Six Ritual Jade sculptures

We already learned about the Bi disc - for the heaven or sky.

The second one is Cong, which is for the earth.

The cong is usually a tube with a circle shaped inside and a square shaped outside.



(from: wikipedia - cong (vessel))


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Six Ritual Jades - Bi

We just learned about the Houmuwu Ding.

Another part of ancient Chinese art is the Six Ritual Jades.

Long ago in China there were six jade things that important people like kings or emperors would keep to show that they were powerful and important.

The first of these was called a "Bi", which was a round disc with patterns on it and a hole in the middle.

Some people believe that the six ritual jade things each had a different meaning, and "Bi" was for heaven or sky.



(from: wikipedia - bi (jade))


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Houmuwu Ding

We just learned about the Jade Burial Suits.

Another famous ancient Chinese sculpture is the Houmuwu Ding.

A "ding" is a sculpture that was used to offer up sacrifices to different gods in ancient China.
This ding is the largest piece of ancient bronze artwork that was ever found.

On the ding it says "Queen Mother Wu" so people think this was made for her after she died, by her son Zu Geng of Shang.

It is 52 inches tall, 43 inches wide, 31 inches deep and it weighs over 1,800 pounds!
There are decorations around it of animals, like dragons and tigers attacking humans.


(from: wikipedia - houmuwu ding)


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Jade Burial Suits

We just learned about the Bianzhong of Marquis Yi of Zeng.

Another ancient Chinese work of art is the Jade Burial Suit.

In ancient times in China, people believed that if you were buried in a suit of Jade after you died, it could help you in the afterlife, and protect you from evil.

Jade is expensive, so only the truly rich people like princes or emperors could afford to be covered in a whole suit of jade.
Usually it was small squares of jade with holes in the edges and string used to tie them all together.
Sometimes there was artwork or carvings in the jade.


(from: wikipedia - jade burial suit)


(from: wikipedia - jade burial suit)


(from: wikipedia - jade burial suit)


(from: wikipedia - jade burial suit)


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Bianzhong of Marquis Yi of Zeng

We just learned about the Leshan Giant Buddha.

Another ancient Chinese sculpture is the Bianzhong of Marquis Yi of Zeng.

This is a group of 64 bells called bianzhong, made of bronze.
These bells are hung into eight groups, and split up on three levels.

The biggest bell is over 60 inches tall and weighs over 400 pounds.
The smallest bell is 8 inches tall and weighs about 5 pounds.

The musicians who play these bells use wooden hammers to hit them to make sounds.

The Bianzhong of Marquis Yi of Zeng were found in 1978, in the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng, a ruler from around 400 BC.



(from: wikipedia - bianzhong)

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Leshan Giant Buddha

We just learned about the Tang Dynasty Tomb Figures of Liu Tingxun.

Another work of ancient Chinese art is the Leshan Giant Buddha.

This is a statue of Buddha over 230 feet tall, built around 713 AD.
It was carved out of a cliff face made of red sandtones.
This is the largest stone statue of Buddha in the world, and when it was built it was the largest statue in the world.

The statue has pipes on the inside of the body, to help drain water when it rains so that the water doesn't damage the statue over the hundreds of years.


(from: wikipedia - leshan giant buddha)


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Tang Dynasty Tomb Figures of Liu Tingxun

We just learned about the Terracotta Army.

Another famous ancient Chinese work of art is Tang Dynasty Tomb Figures of Liu Tingxun made in 728 AD.

These are sculptures from the tomb of a Chinese general named Liu Ting, who died in 782 AD.
There are 13 figures, made using the sancai type of art, which means "three colors".
This kind of art used copper, iron and other metals to make different colors when cooked in ovens.

The sculptures are a pair of human like creatures with wings and hooves to scare off intruders.
After that are some guards and servants, and at the back are horses and camels.



(from: wikipedia - tang dynasty tomb figures of liu tingxun)


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Terracotta Army

We just learned about the sculpture of The Buddha, flanked by Herakles and Tychee.

Another famous set of sculptures is the Terracotta Army made in China around 200 BC.

When the Emperor of China Qin Shi Huang died, he was put into a tomb with over 8,000 sculptures in it.
These were small sculptures of soldiers, chariots, horses, acrobats and musicians that were buried with him as they believed these soldiers would protect the Emperor in the afterlife.

These thousands of soldiers all had real weapons like spears, swords or arrows.
Many of these weapons have been stolen, but people believe there were over 40,000 weapons in the original sculpture.
The statues were all painted at first, but the paint has all worn off.

The place where these sculptures were buried with the emperor was part of a very large cemetery area that was about 38 square miles.
There were people that visited it long ago and wrote about it saying that there were miniature palaces, towers, 100 rivers of flowing mercury, and paintings on the ceiling of heaven.

Over the thousands of years, many things have been stolen or broken, but there are still thousands of sculptures there to see.


(from: wikipedia - terracotta army)



(from: wikipedia - terracotta army)



(from: wikipedia - terracotta army)


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The Buddha, flanked by Herakles and Tychee

We just learned about the Bharhat Stupa.

Another sculpture from ancient Asia is The Buddha, flanked by Herakles and Tychee.

When the Greeks came through Asia, many of their stories about Greek mythology were told to people in the area, so when someone made a statue of the wise man Buddha, they put sculptures of the Greek characters Herakles and Tychee.

(from: wikipedia - greco-buddhist art)


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Bharhat Stupa

We just learned about the Kushan Maitreya.

Another work of art in Asia is the Bharhat Stupa, made around 100 BC.

The artwork for this place shows some styles that are a lot like Greek artwork, and also some marks from different types of artists in different areas.
This means the artwork was probably made over several years, with a lot of different people helping.

It was made so long ago and was almost destroyed and buried, so people had to dig it up and try to figure out who made it based on the carvings.

Most of the carvings tell the story of Buddha, a famous wise person from Asia.


(from: wikipedia - bharhut)


(from: wikipedia - bharhut)

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Kushan Maitreya

We just learned about the Vajrasana, Bodh Gaya.

Another ancient Asian sculpture is the Kushan Maitreya.

This is a sculpture of the Bodhisattva, which are people seeking enlightenment.
The statue is made in the same style as the Greek mythological characters like Zeuss.

(from: wikipedia - greco-buddhist art)


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Vajrasana, Bodh Gaya

We just learned about the Bimaran Casket.

Another famous ancient art from Asia is the Vajrasana, Bodh Gaya.

Long ago there was a famous person called the Buddha who worked to try and figure out the best ways for people to live.

One famous place where he sat and meditated was saved, and sculptures were placed on and around it to remember the Buddha.

The word Vajrasana means diamond throne, and Bodh Gaya was the place where the throne was made.


(from: wikipedia - vajrasana, bodh gaya)


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Bimaran Casket

We just learned about the Gandhara Stone Palettes.

Another example of art in Asia that has some Greek style is the Bimaran Casket, made around 50 AD in Afghanistan.

This is a golden container that has pictures of Buddha on the outside.
Buddha was a very important and wise person in Eastern Asia.
The pictures of Buddha on this container show him dressed and standing in a way that is a lot like Greek sculptures, so people think this was either done by Greek people who came through Afghanistan, or Greeks helped teach other people in the area how to do sculptures.


(from: wikipedia - bimarian casket)


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Gandhara Stone Palettes

We just learned about the Pataliputra Capital.

Another example of Greek sculpture found in Asia are the Gandhara Stone Palettes.

These are small plates with sculputres on them that were made over 2,000 years ago in areas now known as Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Lots of plates have been found showing artwork of stories from Greek mythology like Apollo and Daphne, Athena, Herakles, Poseidon or Aphrodite.

This image is of a sea nymph called a Nereid, riding a giant sea monster called a Ketos.


(from: wikipedia - greco-buddhist art)


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Pataliputra Capital

We just learned about the Lion Capital of Ashoka.

Another famous sculpture from ancient India is the Pataliputra Capital.

It is over 4 feet long, and about 3 feet tall, and it was made over 2,000 years ago.
Even though it was made in India, it looks like a Classical Greek sculpture, so people think that the it was either given as a gift, or that the Greek people taught some other people in the area how to do sculptures the same way they did.

(from: wikipedia - pataliputra capital)


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Lion Capital of Ashoka

We just learned about the Woman of Samaria by William Henry Rinehart in Washington DC, in 1859.

Most of the art we've learned about has been from Europe, the Middle East, or Northern Africa.

Let's learn a little about some art from the continent of Asia.

One of the oldest sculptures is the Lion Capital of Ashoka.

This was made around 250 BC in India.
At that time there was an emperor named Ashoka who wanted to have symbols of his kingdom spread across the country, so he had artists make large pillars with sculptures on top and put them all over.
There are about 20 pillars left that have not been destroyed, and the Lion sculpture is the one that has survived the best of all of the sculptures.

It is a very important symbol in India. It has been put on the national emblem, and the lotus flower shaped bottom base of the sculpture is on the national flag.


(from: wikipedia - lion capital of ashoka)


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