Everything is engraved series

The cicada lives on high branches and drinks but does not eat. It is regarded as a symbol of purity. Lu Yun, a poet in the Western Jin Dynasty, praised it in his "Ode to the Cold Cicada" as follows: "It has a ribbon on its head, which shows its elegance. It holds its breath and drinks dew, which shows its purity. It does not eat millet and sorghum, which shows its honesty. It does not live in a nest, which shows its frugality. It responds to the call of heaven and observes the norm, which shows its trustworthiness. It is a gentleman with integrity, who can serve the monarch and establish himself. Isn't it the most virtuous insect? Moreover, it climbs trees and chirps in the cold, which is the sigh of poor scholars. When I was a foreigner in the past, I was deeply moved by it, so I wrote this poem." The cicada was also a symbol of immortality and reincarnation in the hearts of the ancients. Therefore, jade was often carved into the shape of a cicada and put into the mouth as a jade holder.

(Photo: The jade cicada from the Han Dynasty is now in the collection of the Palace Museum)

The most representative of these is the "Han Eight Knives" jade cicada that we are going to talk about today. When the "Han Ba ​​Dao" technique was first proposed, it referred to a production process in which a piece of jade with a rough shape was cut and polished eight times. "Depicting the spirit through the shape" is its most important feature. Jade cicadas from the Han Dynasty have two types of heads: flat-topped and curved. Flat-topped cicadas are more common in the early Western Han Dynasty, while curved-topped cicadas are more common in the Eastern Han Dynasty. The cicadas of the Han Dynasty inherited the carving techniques of the Warring States Period [24]. The overall structure is symmetrical and reasonable, and the carving technique is concise, vigorous and powerful, with sharp edges visible in every stroke. The carving is mainly straight lines with occasional arcs, and two lines on the two wings intersect to form a figure eight shape. The eyes are protruding and independent of the cicada body, the two wings are close together, the ends are forked, the tail is sharp, and in the middle. Thick on the inside and thin on both sides. There are clear embossed lines on the back, extending all the way to the tail, and the tail and wings form a raised triangle. Part of the abdomen has stretch marks consisting of parallel arcs.

The unearthed Han Dynasty jade cicadas can be roughly divided into three types according to their shapes and carving details, and each of them has its own subtypes:

(I) Type A: An exquisitely carved round sculpture with clear representation of the cicada's head, chest and wings. Its distinctive features include the prominent eyes, and the head, chest and wings carved in intaglio. The chest is represented by a distinct incised line between the head and the Zen body. The wings are mostly protruding from the tail, and cicadas are divided into two subclasses depending on whether the abdomen is exposed:

(1) Type Aa: This is a round sculpture. Not only is the back clearly depicted, but the abdomen is also curved and has carved abdominal segments. As shown below:

(Photo: Unearthed from the Han Tomb of Beizhuang, Ding County, Hebei)

(2) Type Ab: The abdomen of the cicada is plain, lacking any abdominal segments. This type of jade cicada accounts for the majority of the population, and is exquisitely crafted and of good quality. As shown below:

(Photo: M22:88 unearthed from the Han Tomb of Xi'an Financial Cadre Training Center)

(Photo: Unearthed from a hollow brick tomb of the Western Han Dynasty in Maquan Town, Xianyang, Shaanxi)

(ii) Type B: The carving of Type B is simpler than that of Type A. The forehead is slightly curved and relatively flat, the two eyes are not very prominent, there are only one or two engraved lines on the chest, the wing tips and tail are mostly equal in length, the abdomen is flat and plain, and the overall shape is similar to a heart shape. This type of jade cicada is rare. As shown below:

(Photo: Unearthed from the Western Han Dynasty Tomb of Jining Teachers College, Shandong (M4:1))

(Photo: Actual picture of Type B jade cicada)

(III) Type C: The expression is similar to that of a cicada, and the shape is simple. The carving of the head is relatively simple, with only a few incised lines. The boundary between the head and chest is also only one incised line. The wings on the back are represented by Y-shaped incised lines. The plane is mostly an inverted triangle, and a large number of them have been unearthed. As shown below:

(Photo: Unearthed from the Western Han Dynasty Tomb at Houlou Mountain, Xuzhou)

(Photo: Actual picture of Type C jade cicada)

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