Research On The Modeling Of The Jade Fish In The Shang Dynasty

Jade fish is a kind of fish-shaped jade accessories in ancient times.The use of jade fish ran through the whole history of jade culture.Shang Dynasty is a peak period in the jade fish development,due to the unique religious form in Shang Dynasty,the jade fish was not only of wearing value,but also of a touch of mystery.Among the previous studies of jade fish,scholars mainly made an overall analysis of its shape,material,technique and usage over the past dynasties.However,most studies merely briefly mentioned jade fish in Shang Dynasty without in-depth analysis of its shape and cultural implication,which left a gap in the study of jade fish in Shang Dynasty.This paper focuses on exploring the artistic characteristics of Shang Dynasty Jade fish shape,function and its implied cultural meaning.Based on the investigation,using the method of comparative cross cultural anthropology,compared with the same period of foreign fish,to explore the similarities and differences between them,as well as highlights the characteristics of the times and function of cultural meaning of Shang Dynasty Jade Fish.First of all,starting from relevant documents,books and archaeological excavation reports,this paper makes a literature review of the origin,evolution and development of jade fish in chronological order.This paper discusses the relationship between fish and dragon,which serves as the evidence for jade fish unearthed in Shang Dynasty that looks like dragon.Secondly,with relevant documents and field research data,this paper uses the formal analysis method to introduce the jade fish unearthed from tombs in Shang Dynasty in detail.Then,it classifies the modeling of jade fish mainly into five major types and six sub-types.Moreover,this paper discusses the modeling of jade fish from the aspect of partial features,appearance,technology and ornamentation.At the same time,it makes a comparative analysis of different types of jade fish in the same period of Shang Dynasty by using the method of comparison,and summarizes the artistic features.Finally,this paper illustrates from the perspective of function and culture in accordance with the appearance and the different locations when jade fish was unearthed.Combining with relevant documents,this paper uses situation analysis method to analyze jade fish in detail,reproduces the usage of jade fish in Shang Dynasty and the religious and cultural meaning behind it.From the aspect of functional value of modeling,this paper classifies jade fish with different modeling into four categories: practical function,decorative function,Burial function and etiquette function.Then it compares and analyzes the jade fish of Shang Dynasty and jade fish with similar function in other periods.Through comparative study,this paper clearly present the system and way of using fish-shaped vessels in different cultural backgrounds,and prominent the unique features of using jade fish in Shang Dynasty.Through the research on the modeling of jade fish in Shang Dynasty,the paper finds that the cultural concepts of ghosts and gods in the Shang Dynasty had a profound influence on the modeling and usage of jade fish.The jade fish's religious cultural implication and class property were greater than its wearing value.Culture is continuously innovated and inherited.So the usage and cultural meaning of jade fish are also changing with the times,as it changes from being worn only by aristocrats to be worn by all common people.Besides,it reflects the traditional concepts of China since ancient times,the creation of utensils is the embodiment of people's ideology,it's restricted by environment,culture and is an indispensable key factor in etiquette system.