ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS 

Artifacts, Antiques & Fine Collectibles

A Neolithic Chinese Jade Immortal Cicada {Chan (蝉)}

Ritual Offering by the Sons to Their Ancestors

Two Pictographs of Fire-Breathing Dragons

English Translation of Early Symbols/Characters

c.  Hongshan Culture

4500 BC—2250 BC

 

long or short.  However, always it is great.”

—Shuo Wen (c. 100 AD) 

 
 

NOTE:  William D. Houghton, the President of ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS, a State of Washington Licensed Business, assumes all responsibility for the information contained in this description and for the English translation and transcription of the ancient Chinese graphic characters.  Furthermore, I prohibit the further dissemination of this information in any written, video, or electronic format without my expressed, written approval.  Thank You!

SUMMARY

 

This exceptionally large cicada amulet is an ancient, ritual offering by the Sons to honor their departed Father to the Ancestors.  It is made of prized Nephrite Jade that after 5,000 years has turned a beautiful shade of dark, saddle brown that is almost red from the iron and other elements in the soil.  It measures approximately:

 

·            5.90” (150mm) long

·            2.47” (63mm) wide

·            1.19” (30 mm) thick

·            Weight:  1.19 lb. (541gr.)

 

Condition:  This amulet is in exceptionally good, museum quality condition, with no repairs or restorations.  It has been professionally cleaned by the previous owners that allows us to better see the character inscription/dedication. But it still retains its lovely, original patina of iron red mineral deposits that have turned the once green nephrite jade a deep saddle-brown color with orange highlights.    

 

This cicada, a Chinese symbol of immortality, has an estimated 50+ symbols/characters incised, pecked, and painted onto all sides of the cicada—even on the surface of its eyes.  These characters describe the offering of this jade amulet, wine, and meat to the ancestors in order to ensure safe passage of the soul of the departed to immortality in Heaven. This number of characters is large for this Neolithic time period in China, as smaller jade cicada amulets have no characters or only have less than five characters on them.

 

On the obverse (front or in this case top side) of the cicada are a repeating series of hashtag #### cuts into the jade on the top of head and wings.  Under magnification, one can see that these cut lines were made with a rotating, abrasive disk that was powered by a foot peddle.  These lines were not just made to accurately represent a winged cicada, but also were a pictographic symbol to document the presence of their Ancestors.

 

In ancient Hongshan Culture, these pictographic hashtags represent the offering that is presented to the footprints of the Ancestors for their approval.  The Hongshan tried to discern the presence of their ancestors by putting sand or ashes on a crisscrossed bed of planks #### in order to hope to see the footprints of their ancestors in the ashes.  One can even see pictographic images of the Ancestors as they were painted in thick, black paint, which was made of a mixture of iron, manganese, and animal fat. Because the paint was made from mineral elements, the images are still visible on the jade cicada after 5,000 years.     

 

It is known that the Hongshan decorated their pottery with these black, pictographic characters, but documenting that this same paint was used to paint graphics on this jade cicada offering to the Ancestors is exceedingly rare.  Normally, the Hongshan used incised or percussive pecked graphics to document their offerings to their Ancestors.

 

The reverse (back) side of the cicada has at least two Fire-Breathing Dragons that have been pecked and also painted in black onto the surface.  The Emperor/Warlord was considered the son of the Dragon God of Heaven (Tien in Chinese) and only he could be portrayed as a Dragon under penalty of death.  If you look carefully at the macro photos you can see the images of the two dragons (both facing left in these photos) with their jaws wide open and breathing a ball of fire!  {See photos # 8 & 9}

 

Details

 

This jade offering appears to be from the son and grandsons of the deceased and was certainly part a ritual offering to the Ancestors in Heaven to grant the soul of the deceased a safe journey to Tien and immortality.  This amulet offering had to be crafted and engraved for a wealthy member of a warlord or royal family, as only those individuals would have permission to use the Dragon pictographs and the means to afford such an expensive and elaborate offering. 

 

This jade amulet has two, curved holes on the reverse side of the cicada that would have been used for suspension around the neck--see macro photo # 10.  Archaeologists classify these curved holes “Ox-Nose Holes” and they have been drilled by ancient hand tools at low RPM from both sides of the amulet are curved in the center—see macro photo.  These holes are period correct and have a wonderful layer of calcium and micro-crystalline jade inside the bore holes—just perfect.

 

Jade and Cicadas

 

Jade was highly prized by these early civilizations in China, and it was thought to have positive energy to drive away evil spirits and bring good luck and fortune to all who wore a piece on their person—in life and in death. Jade was also believed to be a portal or messenger that could carry prayers to Heaven and send messages to those on Earth from departed ancestors and Gods in Heaven.  Offerings of jade, money, meat, and wine were usually offered by the sons and grandsons at the temples that were built about the royal tombs.

 

Cicadas are called chan (蝉) in Mandarin Chinese. But they are also referred to as guo guo (蟈蟈), which generally refers to a cricket.  In ancient China, the cicada was a symbol of transformation and resurrection because of its life cycle.  The first 13 to 17 years of its life are spent underground, after which, it emerges in its final nymph stage.  It then sheds its skin to reveal a mature form with wings, as this cicada is represented.  Cicadas were a symbol of this resurrection and the hope for immortality of the soul as it departed for Heaven.

 

English Translation of the Pictographs

 

As noted above, this unique amulet contains an estimated 50+ ancient, Chinese pictographic characters that have been painted, incised, and pecked into the amulet.  The symbolic characters were an inscription/dedication to offer sacrifice to the Ancestors and plead that they accept the soul of the departed into Heaven (Tien) for eternal life. 
 

 

We know that this amulet was made in the mid Hongshan Culture (4700 BC—2250 BC) because of the use of a grinding wheel to make the hashtag cuts instead of a non-rotating abrasive tool and by the graphic characters on this amulet.  This Neolithic culture used this type of tool and characters/images (also called graphics) from about 3,500 BC until about 3,000 BC.  This style of pre-writing is often called graphic or pictographic as it uses images of physical items and not symbolic characters called Shuowen Jiezi, which was used before the next type of Chinese characters were used to form a written language that we now call Seal Script or Ku’wen.  {Ref: Chinese Characters, Wieger, S.J., pg. 366.}

 

Some of these amazing graphics can best be seen under 10x magnification, but even then I cannot see all of them clearly enough to decipher and translate them.  Millennia of mineral deposits and natural weathering have made it difficult for me to clearly see the tiny figures—some only about 2mm tall.  This artwork is truly spectacular and of museum quality. Here are just a few of the pictographic characters that are engraved in the ancient pictographic script over 5,000-years-ago:

 

·        As noted above, on the obverse (front or in this case top side) of the cicada are a repeating series of hashtag #### cuts into the jade on the top of head and wings.  Under magnification, one can see that these cut lines were made with a rotating, abrasive disk that was powered by a foot peddle.  These lines were not just made to accurately represent a winged cicada, but also were a pictographic symbol to document the presence of their Ancestors.  In ancient Hongshan Culture, these pictographic hashtags represent the offering that is presented to the footprints of the Ancestors for their approval.  The Hongshan tried to discern the presence of their ancestors by putting sand or ashes on a crisscrossed bed of planks #### in order to hope to see the footprints of their ancestors in the ashes.  One can even see pictographic images of the Ancestors as they were painted in thick, black paint, which was made of a mixture of iron, manganese, and animal fat. Because the paint was made from mineral elements, the images are still visible on the jade cicada after 5,000 years.  {See macro photos # 1 & 3}  

·        One of the largest characters is the one composed of the three, parallel lines that are on top of the neck of the cicada.  That is the character “San” that means “Heaven, Earth & Mankind.”  In ancient form, it can also represent the perfect, parallel lines formed by a square.  {See macro photo # 3}

·        Just below the bottom line of the previous character “San” you can see the images of several figures that have been painted in black and that are under a .1mm layer of patina.  I believe these graphics represent the Ancestors who have come down from Heaven (in Chinese Tien) to Earth to receive the offerings that have been presented to them.  Earth is represented by the lowest, horizontal line in the character “San.” {See macro photo 3}

·        The reverse (back) side of the cicada has at least two Fire-Breathing Dragons that have been pecked and also painted in black onto the surface.  The first Dragon is about 1.5” (37mm) long and his head is placed between the two holes—in Hongshan beliefs, holes represented Heaven.  The Emperor/Warlord was considered the son of the Dragon God of Heaven (Tien in Chinese) and only he could be portrayed as a Dragon under penalty of death.  If you look carefully at the macro photos you can see the images of the two dragons (both facing left in these photos) with their jaws wide open and breathing a ball of fire!  {See macro photo # 8}

·        The soul of the departed rides the above Fire-Breathing Dragon as it carries him safely to Heaven. {See macro photo 8}

·        Below and to the left of the above Dragon is a second, longer Fire-Breathing Dragon that measures about 2.75” (70mm) and is painted in black and pecked into the jade cicada. Both Dragons were thought to scare away Evil Spirits and capable of carrying the soul of the departed safely to eternal life in Heaven. {See macro photos # 9}

·        Ancestors are depicted painted inside the eyes of the cicada.  In ancient times, inscriptions and dedications to honor the deceased were oftentimes inscribed in places that only the Ancestors and Gods could see, or made so small that only the Ancestors could read them.  It was believed that mere mortals were not worthy to read inscriptions meant only for the eyes of departed Ancestors in Heaven (Tien). {See macro photos # 4 $ 5} 

·        The Son(s) offering of raw meat from a sacrificed animals. The Son(s) has a flint knife in his hand.

·        A Heaven Bird flying towards the Heavens and carrying the prayers of Earth to Heaven.

·        Ritual wine that is poured onto a bed of grass and then burned.

·        And over an estimated 40+ other graphics/characters that further describe the ritual dedication of the gifts to the Ancestors.

·       

 
 

 REFERENCES:

 

The Great Bronze Age of China: An Exhibition from the People’s Republic of China, edited by Wen Fong, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1980.

Stephen Payne, "How to Purchase Archaic Jade"

Ancient Chinese Warfare, Ralph D. Sawyer, Mei-chün Sawyer

Chinese Characters, Dr. L. Weiger

Archaeology, Archaeological Institute of America, Feb/March 2015

Shanghai Museum, Hongshan Culture

British Museum, Hongshan Culture

Smithsonian Institution, WDC

National Palace Museum

MET, Hongshan Culture, NYC