Bird-shaped Jade From The Western Zhou Dynasty

The Western Zhou Dynasty served as the transitory stage between the two peakperiod of jade ware’s development–Shang Dynasty and the Spring and Autumnand Warring-states period, and its people who placed more emphasis on etiquette,regime and politics focused more on the cultural implication of jade ware. Itremained some material cultural elements of jade ware in Shang Dynasty anddeveloped its own system in the middle and later period of Western Zhou Dynasty.Since the ancient time, bird-shaped jade are favored by the world. The bird-shapedjade unearthed from the tombs in all the stages of Western Zhou Dynasty were in alarge amount. Among them, both the quantity and quality of bird-shaped jade fromthe Western Guo Tombs topped others.Based on the conclusion and analysis of previous research, this paper studiesthe bird-shaped jade, mainly centering on those from the Western Guo Tombs,through investigating the real object and material on the spot. The Western GuoTombs fall in to the late kind, but most of the bird-shaped jade are from differentperiods of time, only having a small amount that was made in the late WesternZhou Dynasty. Through the analysis of excavation reports on the present-knowntombs of Western Zhou Dynasty and bird-shaped jade unearthed from them, thetime that they were made can be inferred from the comparison of shape andstructure, modeling, cord designing and carving at different periods of time, onbird-pattern jade and bird-shaped jade respectively. Meanwhile, the reason ofbird-shaped jade’s appearance and its influence on the study of jade ware ofWestern Zhou Dynasty can be speculated from the aspect of Western ZhouDynasty’s cultural and political backgrounds, aesthetic idea and developmentroutine of bird-shaped jade from the Neolithic Age. On the other hand, it aids in understanding Western Zhou Dynasty’s art development and its people’s cherishand love for the jade ware.