Research On Unearthed Jewelry Of Song Dynasty

Jewelry unearthed of Song Dynasty were in a large number and could be divide into several types, which were highly concerned by scholars. However, previous research on jewelry of Song Dynasty, simply classified the study into clothing research or just focus on certain artifacts; besides, there were only a few articles which adopted archaeological perspective. Based on previous studies, this article made an attempt on analysis and research on typology, region and chronology resarch as well as issues related of jewelry during this time by using archaeological methodology and theory.Part I: IntroductionAt first, this article explained the significance of research on jewelry of Song Dynasty, the definition of jewelry and defined the research field of this article. Then introduced the main archaeological discoveries related. At last, reviewed previous studies and elaborated what this article seeked to achieve.Part II :Typology research of jewelryAccording to the different functions, this paper first divided jewelry into seven major categories, namely, hair clasp(zan), hairpin(chai),comb(shu)including grate(bi), bracelet (zhuo),rings(zhi huan), errings (er huan)and pendent(xiang shi). Based on differences in their specific shape, Each category of jewelry could be divided into different types.Among them, hair clasp(zan) and hairpin(chai) hair were both hair ornaments, which were the most common jewelry during that time, the number and variety of these artifacts had a large proportion in the range of jewelry, especially for golden and silver texture ones. Therefore, these two kind of jewelry had been done a more detailed division. Hair clasp could be divided into eight kinds, i.e., golden hair clasp, silver hair clasp, copper hair clasp, rail hair clasp, jade hair clasp, glass hair clasp, bone hair clasp and multi-texture hair clasp, and the shape of golden hair clasp and silver hair clasp (including gilt silver hair clasp) had been emphasised. Golden hair clasp had the most diverse in shapes, motifs and most complicated in manufacturing process; although silver hair clasp was less valueable than golden ones, didn't mean there were no masterpieces, especially gilt silver hair clasp, which was very skillful. The most common pattern in hair clasp were cone-shaped hair clasp with cap, and cap could be described as round-shaped, mushroom-shaped, flower-shaped umbrella shape, etc.; In addition, hair clasp with spherical head and rod-shaped body as well as curette-shaped hair clasp were also very common pattern. Ruyi-head hair clasp, three-dimensional type hair clasp, leaf-shaped hair clasp were all very typical and representive styles of the Song hair clasp. Hairpin could be divided into golden hairpin, silver hairpin, copper hairpin and glass hairpin, this paper emphasised on shapes of golden and silver hairpin (including gilt silver hairpin). The manufacturing process of gold and silver hairpin was complicated, and was diverse in style. Among them, the commun U-shaped hairpin, flower-head hairpin, bamboo-burl-shaped shaped hairpin and fan-shaped hairpin were made both in golden and silver hairpin, while the most common pattern was common U-shaped hairpin.The other five jewelry comb (including grate), bracelet, ring, earrings, pendant were in a small number, also only had certain fixed patterns, therefore, those five kinds of jewelry were put together to explore their shapes, regardless of their texture. People during Song were used to wear comb and grate in their hair, which indicated both comb and grate were head ornaments. They were usually made by wood, and the most common shape were half-moon comb and "非"-shaped grate. In addition, comb was also often dyed into different colors, which was believed could represent beautiful and auspicious. Bracelet and ring could be attributed into hand ornaments. Bracelet were mainly made by gold and silver, while ring were gold and copper. Concave wide-surface bracelet, clustered bracelet, wide-surface ring, clustered-ring were the main style popular at that time. Earrings were ear ornaments, which were mainly made by gold, such jewelry were most affected by the minorities, the mainly popular style was half-moon shaped. Pendant could be divided into beads, wooden chaplets and collars, among them, beads and chaplets were in the majority. The wooden chapelts habored both jewelry function and Buddha prayer function.Each jewelry reserached in this part all included such aspects: definition, function, literature research, typology research and summary of feature. In addition, base on unearthed location of jewelry and the number of jewelry, preliminary speculation were also made on the wear habit of hairpin, comb, bracelet and rings.Part III: Region and chronology research of jewelry.According to the distribution of Song jewelry, one could divide them into six regions: the lower reaches of the Yangtze River plus southern hills region; the upper reaches of the Yangtze River of Sichuan Basin region; middle reaches of Yangtze River of Hubei and Hunan region; lower reach of Pearl River region; Guizhou Altiplano region; lower reaches of the Yellow River region. And chronolgoy research were made on the first three region with an emphasis on the first region, which come to some understanding of both geography and temporal distribution of Song jewelry: first, the six regions were not completely isolated, there are certain communication among them. Within the regional intersection area, jewelry usually showed mixed feature. Second, the first region, whose center was the Southern Song capital Lin'an, was the central region of all six regions, the other five regions are subject to a great influence on first region. Thirdly, during the Northern Song period, the general style of jewelry was simple and modest, but there were still some extremely complex design; while during the Southern Song period, the gernall style of jewelry was comely and elegant, complicated production but gentle and decent in visual.To each region, this article stated their geographical scope, jewelry type and proportion, regional features. Then studies of typical jewelry within each region were carried out, including summary of typical jewelry, development and evolution , regional links, manufacturing process, decoration motif, jewelry style and inscription research and so on.Part IV: ConclusionThrough the discussion of above issues, this paper summarized the profile of unearthed jewelry during the Song Dynasty, including the result of typology research, feature summary and some related issues. To some extent they reflect the full picture of the Song jewelry. At last, pointed out the deficencies of this article.