Rectangular plaque with dragon border, 3 in. (7.6 cm.) long; rectangular plaque/pendant, 2 3/8 in. (6 cm.) long; pair of buckle plaques, 2 1/8 in. (5.4 cm.) long; zhang ritual blade, 9¼ in. (23.5 cm.) long; ring, 1¼ in. (3.1 cm.) diam.; axe, 2½ in. (6.4 cm.) long; bell, 2½ in. (6.4 cm.) long; gui, 7¾ in. (19.7 cm.) long; coin-knife, 5¼ in. (13.3 cm.) long; zitan box, 10½ in. (26.6 cm.) long (10).

Provenance: Stephen Junkunc III. 

THE CASE FOR (OR AGAINST?) HUIZONG'S JADES
Jenny F. So, Chinese University of Hong Kong

The last time a group of such near-perfectly pure and translucent white jades with inscriptions appeared publicly was in the exhibition Chinese Jades from Han to Ch'ing at the Asia House Gallery, New York, in 1980. Dated between 1112 and 1124 in the reign of the Northern Song scholar-emperor Huizong (1101-1125), the inscriptions on these jades state that they were made in the imperial workshop "Xiuneisi", presumably for imperial consumption. James Watt, author of the catalogue that accompanied that exhibition, discussed in detail the problems presented by the jades and their inscriptions. He offered three possible periods for their manufacture - Southern Song or early Yuan, Ming, and Qing, spanning over six hundred years from the 12th to 18th centuries. Watt brought this group up again in a 1997 colloquy in London, where he stated that "a late Song to early Yuan date is the most likely," but he immediately qualified this remark by citing the peculiar inscription on a white jade octagonal bead in the Fitzwilliam Museum with a bewildering "Zhengzhi (politics)" reign date.
A quarter century later, a second group of similarly exquisite white jades with superfine inscriptions formerly in the collection of Stephen Junkunc III is presented here. These nine (ten, if the pair of buckle plaques is counted as two) jades form the largest single group known to date. Together with the group of eight in the British Museum, two in the Art Institute of Chicago, and one each in the Cleveland Museum of Art, Fitzwilliam Museum (Cambridge University), Palace Museum (Beijing), and the Hong Kong Museum of Art, this brings the total of known inscribed white jades to twenty-three. Revisiting this unique group with information that has emerged over the past twenty-five years, what new conclusions can we draw? Were they really made for Huizong, or by an imperial workshop for imperial consumption? Can we come closer to a more likely date for their manufacture?

To do this, we should look at the special characteristics of these jades, i.e., the style and content of the inscriptions, and their shapes. Four of the nine - the two rectangular plaques, the pair of plaques for a buckle, the zhangritual blade - are obviously Qing-dynasty pieces in shape and high gloss finish. This group will be excluded from discussion. We will focus on the more intriguing examples in this group - the ring, axe, bell, gui, and coin-knife pendant.

Calligraphy: The Script
1. The unusual outlined script of all the inscriptions was commonly used by early calligraphers to trace and copy master calligraphy in ink on paper, or to transfer on to stone steles for carving. This technique was also used on Tang and Liao Buddhist or Daoist inscriptions on gold tablets (Fig. 1), and on tenth century Cizhou wares. However, the only evidence we have for Huizong's time - a jade dedicatory tablet dated 1105 in the National Museum of China, Beijing, does not use this script; instead, it follows similar imperial dedicatory tablets of Tang and Northern Song emperors by using intaglio characters filled with gold or red pigment.
2. Technically, such hair-fine miniscule scripts are possible during the Song period. Similarly finely engraved designs appear on bronzes from the tenth century, perhaps even with the help of diamond-tipped tools. In his catalogue of contemporary collections Zhou Mi (ca. 1232-97), a Southern Song scholar official, noted that he saw a "white jade square gangmao(bead-pendant), with two rows of inscriptions in regular script, fine as hair," further indicating that such inscriptions were executed by the Southern Song period.

Content
1. James Watt's overriding concern is the inscriptions' claim that the jades were made by the imperial workshop "Xiuneisi" during Huizong's reign. Song-dynasty historical records indicate that during the Northern Song, the "Xiuneisi" was responsible for palace construction and maintenance works. The only imperial bureau which might have made such objets d'artis the "Wensiyuan" but this name does not appear on any of the inscriptions. By the Southern Song, the "Xiuneisi" apparently became involved in producing paraphernalia for the amusement of the Song court, such as preparing late night snacks for New Year's Eve, setting up tents to watch the coming of the tides along the water's edge, providing small images of children on the Festival of the Seventh Day of the Seventh Month, and lanterns for the New Year's Lantern Festival. The connection to Huizong's "Xiuneisi" therefore remains dubious.
2. James Watt also doubted the regnal term "Huang Song" used at the end of all the inscriptions. But this term does appear on bronze coins minted during Northern Song Renzong's reign (1038-1040). It also appears on Southern Song tomb epitaphs, supporting the possibility that such inscriptions could have been composed during the Northern or Southern Song period.
3. The texts of these inscriptions are either miscellaneous poems of the Jin-dynasty poet Tao Qian (372-427) or one of the most popular Buddhist scriptures, the Heart Sutra. James Watt already pointed out the implausibility of Huizong (a devout Daoist) commissioning imperial jades with Buddhist scriptures, although Buddhism was popular among select literati circles. However, the choice of Tao Qian poems might be understood as spiritual defiance of a people who lost their homeland to foreign conquerors. After Eastern Jin fell to the Toba tribe in 420, Tao Qian refused to submit to the indignities of public service under foreign rule, quit his official position, changed his name, and returned to his home village to live a simple country life. Members of the Southern Song educated elite, both at court and in private life, who suffered a similar fate when the Jurchen sacked their old capital at Kaifeng and forced the court to flee south to Hangzhou, could easily have found comfort and inspiration from Tao Qian's example.

The Shapes
1. The drum-shaped ring (Fig. 2) puzzled James Watt because he saw no connection between its convex silhouette and the more common, straight-sided, cylindrical shape of Ming- and Qing-dynasty jade rings. A more appropriate source might be drum-shaped go or chess game-piece containers common in Yaozhou and Longquan wares (Fig. 3). These ceramic shapes were produced throughout the Northern Song to early Yuan periods, and would therefore support a pre-Ming inspiration for this unusual shape.
2. The axe (Fig. 4), the only piece of its kind among the twenty-three known, could also have Northern Song inspirations. Among the jades recorded in Zhou Mi's catalogue was "a large Shang jade yue (axe), a relic from the Xuanhe (Huizong's reign between 1119 and1125) era, subsequently taken by the Jin, currently in the imperial palace, and displayed every time there is a major court gathering."
3. The bell (Fig. 5) with a stemmed handle is also unique among the current group of twenty-four. It has no known precedent among existing artifacts from the Song period. Both Northern and Southern Song imperial compilations of antiquities only showed bells with a loop (not a stem), and the archaistic reproductions from that period all show the bells with loops. The loop at the top, as well as the faceted surface of the bells in the British Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago (Fig. 6) might have been inspired by Northern Song catalogues like Nie Chongyi's Sanlitu (first printed 1172). The uniqueness of the Junkunc stemmed bell makes it a credible candidate as a likely early archaizing product.
4. The round-topped gui (Fig. 7) has been a Daoist insignia since the Sui dynasty (581-618), becoming especially common during the Ming and Qing periods, serving both religious and courtly functions. The shape continued to appear in Wu Dacheng's Guyü tukao (An Illustrated Study of Archaic Jades) published in 1889. The reasons for regarding this piece within a Song context would therefore be based on its superb material, refined workmanship, and subtle finish, qualities that distinguish it from the later examples of this type.
5. A less flamboyant version of the coin-knife shape (Fig. 8) is a Warring States (475-221 B.C.) bronze coin of the Qi State. This coin was re-minted under the Wang Mang Interregnum (A.D. 8-23) in a deliberate act of archaism (Fig. 9). A shape closer to the present white jade version appears on a 1779 print edition of the catalogue Guyü tupu (An Illustrated Book of Archaic Jades), supposedly compiled during the Southern Song by a team of court scholars and painters (Fig. 10). This book was declared a forgery by Qianlong's court scholars in 1789, believing it to have been at best a Ming-dynasty attempt to recreate a lost Song publication. This means that, although an ancient precedent for this unusual coin-knife shape might have existed, a much later, Ming- or Qing-dynasty date for its manufacture in jade cannot be dismissed.

The five shapes considered here all reveal archaistic underpinnings, an important element among the many artistic pursuits of Huizong's reign. However, a close look at Huizong's and the Northern Song literati's archaistic activities indicate that they focused on studying, collecting, and publishing of antiquities with a goal to recreate and revive ancient court rituals and music, and not for personal consumption. Huizong's imperial commissions centered around reproducing ritual bronze vessels and bells; in jade, he seemed to have focused on ritual objects as well, supposedly commissioning seven imperial jade seals in "Qin" style in 1107 and 1117 that he proudly displayed at court. His personal jades are likely to be contemporary types, such as cups and bowls like those in the Palace Museums in Beijing and Taipei (Fig. 11), vessels that he reportedly dared not use at banquets for fear "that people might think that I am too extravagant."

Among Northern Song literati, archaism was also a serious pursuit, not for frivolous personal pleasures. The fourteen jades collected by Li Gonglin (1049-1106), the renowned Northern Song painter, were mostly Eastern Zhou types (various dragon-shaped pendants, sword fittings, belt hooks, bidisks, and ear-cups), objects that evoke ancient rites and ritual regalia. The present group of white jades cannot be considered "serious" archaistic products like Huizong's ritual bronze bells or jade seals. They are more appropriately regarded as refined scholar's articles that expressed knowledge and nostalgia for a bygone era, items that would have been delightful substitutes for the genuine antiquity on a scholar's desk.

Scholars' objects in jade began to emerge during the Southern Song period. At the same time, Qingbai glazed wares became widespread during the Southern Song and Yuan as reflections of desires to create jade-like substitutes in a less expensive material for imperial and mass consumption. For archaistic shapes, ritual jades such as the cong and ritual bronze vessels remain the primary models. When archaistic jades appear (and only rarely), they are miniature novelties only six to seven centimeters tall (Fig. 12). The exquisite, miniature nature of the current group of white jades fits well into this context.

The Verdict?

Can we now try to answer the question posed at the beginning, i.e., could these (or pieces like them) have been made during Huizong's reign, or by imperial workshops of the Northern or Southern Song period? Evidence continues to doubt the claim that these jades were associated directly with Huizong or even imperial Northern Song workshops. But a quick survey of white jades recovered in recent years from Liao (916-1125) and Jin (1115-1234) contexts would indicate that superb mutton-fat white jades were clearly available for elite consumption during the tenth through early twelfth centuries. Comparison with Liao-period white jades reveal close similarities in material and polish with the five jades discussed here, in particular the bell and axe (Figs. 13 a and b). Hence, there is good reason to believe that these jades - or ones just like them - might have been made by workshops or jade-workers with equally exacting standards for the social and political elite of the time in both Liao and Song territory.

If some of them were copies from a subsequent era, it remains possible that they were based on Song versions that have not survived. The Northern Song imperial mausoleum at Gongyi xian in Henan province was thoroughly looted by Jin (Jurchen) and Mongol troops, their contents taken north. The best of these might have survived long enough for them to have been copied in later times as evocations of the past. Southern Song burials were often simple because the hope was for reburial in the north when the Jurchen invaders were expelled. Family treasures would therefore be more likely to have remained in descendents' hands and passed from generation to generation in anticipation of this return to the north. At the beginning of the Yuan dynasty, paintings, calligraphy, scholars' objects, and miscellaneous items from sealed imperial warehouses in Hangzhou - the Southern Song capital - were sold to raise funds for the Yuan government. Zhao Mengfu (1254-1322) the Yuan-dynasty literati painter, also acquired works of art from the Southern Song Empress Dowager Xie held captive in the Yuan capital in the north.

These are but a few of the many possible scenarios under which objets d'art from the Song period could have survived over centuries. Among this small handful of exquisite white jades, we may have some of these survivors.

1. James C. Y. Watt, Chinese Jades from Han to Ch'ing (New York: Asia House Gallery, 1980), pp. 144-50.
2. "Jade Carving in China from the Tenth to Fourteenth Centuries" in Rosemary Scott ed. Chinese Jades: Colloquies on Art & Archaeology in Asia, no. 18. (London: Percival David Foundation, 1997,
p. 189-204), p. 199. This bead, a bequest from Oscar Raphael in 1946 has remained unpublished.
3. For examples, see the Daoist ritual tablet dedicated by Wuzetian in 700 (Tang Dynasty Empress Wu and Her Times, Tokyo: 1998, no. 99); Liao gold tablets with dharani inscriptions datable to 1049 ( Qidan Wangchao. Beijing: Museum of Chinese History, 2002, p. 322).
4. Jan Wirgin, Song Ceramic Designs (Stockholm: The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities Bulletin No. 42, 1970), pl. 42j, 43d, 44d.
5. Published in Zhongguo wenwubao, 27 October, 2004.
6. See Lin Po-t'ing, ed. Art and Culture of the Sung Dynasty (960-1279) (Taipei: National Palace Museum, 2000), I-23, dated to 1008.
7. See bronze mirrors with Buddhist motifs in Jenny F. So, ed. Noble Riders from Pines and Deserts (Hong Kong: Art Museum, Institute of Chinese Studies, C. U. H. K., 2004) nos. VIII: 6-7; and Shen Hsueh-man, "Image in a Mirror, Moon in the Water: Liao Period Bronze Mirrors Incised with Buddhist Images" (Orientations, September 2006, 58-64), figs. 2, 5-6.
8. For the possible use of diamond tools, see a remark by Zhou Mi quoted in Fu Xinian, Guyü Duoying (Hong Kong : Zhonghua Books, 1995), p. 225.
9. From Zhou Mi, Yunyan Guoyanlu (Records of Fleeting Clouds and Mist), in Zhongguo Shuhua Congshu (Shanghai: Shanghai Shuhua Publishing House, 1993).
10. See various entries in the Song Shi: Zhi (Song History: Chronicles); and Zhou Mi, Wulin Jiushi (Stories of Wulin) written between 1280-90 ( Ji'nan: Shandong Youyi Publishing House, 2001).
11. See Jianghan Kaogu, 1996, no. 3, p. 32, fig. 4:6.
12. See Wenwu 1987.2, pp. 66-69.
13. Patricia Ebrey. "Taoism and Art at the Court of Song Huizong" in Stephen Little ed. Taoism and the Arts of China (Chicago and Berkeley: Art Institute of Chicago and University of California Press, 2000), pp. 95-111.
14. See Yaozhou Yao (Xi'an: Shaanxi Travel & Tourism Press, 1992), illustration no. 31 in section on "The Pure and Refined Pottery and Porcelain of the Song Dynasty;" Illustrated Catalogue of Celadon Wares in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, rev. ed. (London: School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 1997), no. 225 (PDCLII).
15. Zhou Mi, Yunyan Guoyanlu.
16. Except, perhaps, an archaistic bronze bell in the Taipei National Palace Museum, given a "Song - Ming" date. See Li Yu-ming ed. Through the Prism of the Past: Antiquarian Trends in Chinese Art of the 16th to 18th Century (Taipei: National Palace Museum, 2003), no. I-40.
17. See Lin Po-t'ing, I-26-27; or a small celadon bell sold at Sotheby's (London), 12 December, 1989, lot 91.
18. See Stephen Little, nos. 32, 73, 76-80, 85, 86, 91, 96-97.
19. Li Ling. Melting the Past to Cast the Present - Archaeological Discoveries and the Art of Archaism (Hong Kong: Fine Arts Department, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2005), fig. 34: right.
20. Long Dayuan et al. Guyü tupu (1176?) in Siku Quanshu, 1779 edition. Taipei: Zhuangyan wenhua Co. Ltd., 1995.
21. Lin Po-t'ing, no. I-24, 26-27 and pp. 293-320; also discussed in Li Ling.
22. Cao Zhao, Gegu Yaolun (Essentials of Connoisseruship), first published 1388. None of these seals seem to have survived.
23. Lin Po-t'ing, no. IV-37; Yang Boda ed. Zhongguo yüqi quanji: 5 (Shijiazhuang: Hebei meishu chubanshe, 1993), nos. 108, 110, 111-12.
24. Cited in Zhou Hui (active 1131-62), Qingbo Zazhi (Miscellaneous Annals of Clear Ripples), juan 2 (Reprinted, Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 1994).
25. This sentiment was clearly voiced by Lü Dalin (active ca. 1046-92) in the preface to his Kaogutu (Illustrated Investigations in Antiquities) published in 1092.
26. See the group from tomb of Shi Shingzu (died 1274) from Zhejiang in Gu Fang ed., The Complete Collection of Unearthed Jades in China(Beijing: Science Press, 2005), vol. 8, pp. 219-222.
27. Dated Qingbai Wares of the Song and Yuan Dynasties (Hong Kong: Cheng Leng Foundation, 1998), p. 27.
28. See Yang Boda ed., no. 104 from Southern Song (1201); and Gu Fang, vol. 6, no. 181 from early Yuan (1301 and 1305) burials.
29. See Yang Boda ed., nos. 138, 142; Qidan Wangchao. Beijing: Museum of Chinese History, 2002, pp. 95-97, 146-56.
30. Jenny F. So, "Qidan yü yu hubuo diaoshi chulun: Baiyü zai Qidan wenhua zhong de yiyi (Preliminary study of Qidan jades and amber: and the meaning of white jade in Qidan culture" in Proceedings of the International Conference on Tang to Qing Jades (Shanghai: The Shanghai Museum, 2002), pp. 237-48; and "Finding Paradigms Among Northern Song Jades", paper delivered at National Palace Museum, Taipei, February 2007.
31. See Ankeney Weitz, "Notes on the Early Yuan Antique Art Market in Hangzhou," in Ars Orientalis, vol. 27 (1997), pp. 27-38.
32. Zhou Mi, Yunyan Guoyan Lu. 

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, New York, 22 March 2007