The history of lantian jade

"lantian jade" is named after Lantian Mountain in Xi, Shaanxi.

Lantian jade was praised by literati. Many ancient books before the Tang Dynasty recorded that Lantian produced beautiful jade. Li Shangyin, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, wrote a poem entitled "Fish people shed tears on the moon and green sea, and Lantian spit jade on the sun", which made lantian jade famous forever. This poem contains a touching legend. In the distant past, Taibai Venus gave Yang Boyong, a scholar who helped the poor and did good deeds, a dream: "Go in and out of Nanshan on a sunny day, and smoke hides jade." Baoyu can be found in the deep mountains of Lantian.

Lantian jade has a long mining history, but its output is low, which can't meet the social needs. With the exhaustion of ancient jade mines and the opening of the Silk Road, other jade species are used everywhere, and the exploitation and application of lantian jade are gradually lost. After the Yushan earthquake, the specific location of ancient mineral deposits was unknown, so that the Ming and Song Dynasties said in the Tiangong that Lantian was another name for Congling (Kunlun Mountain) and Lantian was a place for storing, transporting and processing jade articles. Lantian jade is one of the earliest jade species developed and utilized in China, with a history of more than 5,000 years.

As early as the Neolithic Age, our ancestors began to wear fake lantian jade. Among the Yangshao culture and Longshan culture sites in Lantian County, Xi City, Shaanxi Province, jade, jade and so on were unearthed by ancestors. 20 1 1 In March, 2000, when excavating the Lantian Xinjie site in the southwest of Bianjiazhai Village, Hua Xu Town, Lantian County, archaeologists systematically discovered the precious data of China people using lantian jade more than 5000 years ago for the first time.

Archaeologists have found many jade articles of different sizes, such as jade strips, jade blocks, jade articles, stone drills, stone drill caps, stone drill bits and stone drill cores, as well as some jade ornaments and jade rings. Archaeologists believe that the excavation of these jade articles and jade processing tools provided physical evidence for the development and utilization of lantian jade in Yangshao culture period, and also added important specimens for the study of jade processing technology in prehistoric times.

Shao Jing, an associate researcher at Shaanxi Institute of Archaeology, said that Lantian has produced beautiful jade since ancient times, and the famous "Jade of Harmony" in the Warring States Period was lantian jade. More than 5,000 years ago, mature jade works of art began to appear in China. However, the archaeological discovery of jade in Yangshao culture period has been very rare. Jade-related cultural relics, such as blanks, finished products, wastes and wastes, found in the Xinjie site in Lantian have been systematically unearthed, which is the first time in the history of early jade articles.

Among the 125 jades collected by Shaanxi History Museum, there is a vegetable jade shovel made in lantian jade. The shovel grass is green, the blade end is light brown, long trapezoid, flat and thin, straight back has broken corners, the blade is slightly inclined, round and eccentric to one side, long 16.8 cm, wide 7.5 cm, extremely thin and sharp, and only 0.2 cm thick. After Qin Shihuang unified the six countries, he ordered Li Si, the prime minister, to collect a jade seal made of Lantian jade, which read: "I am ordered by heaven to live forever." Since then, as a symbol of imperial power, the imperial seal has been circulated in China's autocratic monarchy for more than 1000 years.

Taiping Yulan quoted Yupu as saying: "China, carved fish, insects, cranes and dragons are all aquatic animals. Take this idea roughly to help water virtue. Qin lantian jade, seal, all around, is a new button. Li si was ordered to seal it with fish and birds, and the text said,' from heaven, the emperor lives long.' Or:' I am ordained by heaven to live forever' ". History of the Song Dynasty, Volume 444, Biography of Li, Biography of Liu Wenyuan, History of the Ming Dynasty, Jade Fu Zhi, Treasure Emperor, Notes on Yunshizhai and Zhongzhou Jade also recorded that the official seal of Qin Shihuang was made of lantian jade.

It is widely rumored that the "National Seal" is made of "Harmony Jade" instead of lantian jade, probably because the heavy weapon of the country is carved with priceless Harmony Jade. However, this statement is unfounded, unsupported by historical data and unreasonable.

Hanfeizi Heshibi is the earliest, most detailed and reliable historical material about Heshibi, and its wording is very strict. It is recorded in the article that Bian He, a Chu native, presented Chu Shanyu as a "gift" to the King of Zhou. The word "peak" means "to raise the height to the limit". The ancients were limited to eyebrow height. There is a word "Mei Shou" in the inscription of the Western Zhou Dynasty, which means extremely long life. The word "offering" in The History of Han Feizi He Zi refers to "raising your hands to the eyebrow level to pay tribute to the king", which shows incomparable awe and respect for the king. It can be seen that Yupu can't be very heavy, otherwise Bian He can't dedicate his eyebrows to the King of Zhou. The words such as "sealing the wall" and "holding the wall" in Historical Records of Lian Po and Lin Xiangru also prove that it can't be too heavy, especially the word "Huaibi" clearly tells us that the size of He Bi can be held in your arms and is not easy to be found.

There is almost no objection to the textual research on the size of the official seal, which is considered to be "four inches square, three inches and six heights". Each foot in Qin Dynasty is equivalent to 23. 1 cm in modern times. Therefore, the size of the national seal is equivalent to 9.24 cm square and the height is about 8.3 cm. If you want to use a round flat jade with a hole in the middle to transform it, you can use the same size of the national seal. Then the diameter of the wall should be at least 30 cm and the thickness should be 8.5 cm. And choi, as big as a millstone, weighs dozens of kilograms. It is not only inconsistent with the unearthed jade of Warring States and Han Dynasty (a big jade with a thickness of about 2 cm), but also inconsistent with the text details in historical materials. In ancient books, lantian jade's name first appeared in History of Han Geography: "Lantian, beautiful jade comes from the mountain, there is a temple behind the tiger, and Qin Xiaogong is here." Later, it was recorded that Lantian produced jade, such as Biography of consorts in the Later Han Dynasty, Zhang Heng's Poems on Xijing, Guangya, Notes on Water Mirrors and Yuanhe County Records, which can be cited vividly. In the Han Dynasty, lantian jade was widely used. Emperor Gaozu made a dove stick from lantian jade and gave it to a respected veteran, and made his tomb head from lantian jade. Princess royal's tomb unearthed in Xuejiahe Village, Xiehu Town, Lantian County, Shaanxi Province is a bronze carved jade garment made by lantian jade, and the jade slips unearthed in Xinzhuang Village, Lihou Township are all evidence of lantian jade's early processing.

Lantian jade has a long history of development, but complete ancient lantian jade is rare. In Xi 'an Collection and Research Institute, there is a well-preserved lantian jade turtle dome lamp, which has a history of more than 2,000 years and is 10cm high. Judging from the texture at the bottom, although the turtle dome lamp has been weathered for thousands of years, the material characteristics of lantian jade are still very obvious.

According to Yi Jian, vice president of Gem Association, the large-scale "animal-faced jade auxiliary head" unearthed near Maoling, Xianyang, Shaanxi Province was made by lantian jade, indicating that the origin of lantian jade praised by Han and Tang people is near Chang 'an, the imperial capital. Yu Pei of Han Dynasty in the Palace Museum was identified as serpentine marble, namely lantian jade.

There is a saying in Lin Yulang by Han Yuefu that "lantian jade is on his head and Zhu Qin is behind his ear", which shows that lantian jade was made into a lot of jewelry in Han Dynasty. A Yu Pei unearthed in Tianshui City is a dancer's portrait made of lantian jade. It is very long and 9.5 cm high. Jade has a big head, a thin waist, long sleeves, a mop skirt, and a swinging arm dance.

A jade shop with four gods was unearthed in Maoling, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, which is the most exquisite jade carving in Lantian, Han Dynasty. It is 36.5 cm wide, gray-green, with convex buttons under it and slightly rounded corners, respectively grinding out the popular images of the four gods at that time: Qinglong, White Tiger, Suzaku and Xuanwu. The lower part of the device is a ring buckle as the bridge of the nose, with thick eyebrows and protruding eyes on it, forming a big animal face, and a row of wide teeth are outlined with 8 vertical stripes on the lower edge. The pattern image is solemn and dignified, the craft is exquisite, and the line is both rigid and flexible.

Yu Pei, the great round carving in Baoji Bronze Museum, has a residual height of 18.5, a length of 18, a width of 6.7 cm and a weight of 1.972 g. 1978 The tomb of Lu people in the early Eastern Han Dynasty was unearthed in Jinhe Brick Factory in the northern suburb of Baoji City. Jade to ward off evil spirits is made of sapphire with obvious black stripes. Some scholars believe that the material should be lantian jade. In the Tang Dynasty, the feudal society in China reached its peak, and the processing and utilization of lantian jade also reached its peak. Princes and nobles decorated crowns, court clothes, hairpin ornaments and scabbard handles with lantian jade.

Legend has it that token of love, given to Yang Yuhuan by Li Longji in the Tang Dynasty, was lantian jade. Because its texture is like the tearing of ice, people later named it after Yang Yuhuan's nickname Furong, which is called "hibiscus jade with ice flowers". Yang Guifei's jade belts and jade articles are all made in lantian jade. Yang Guifei, a beautiful woman who devoted herself to her country, couldn't put it down for lantian jade. "Biography of Yang Guifei" said: "It's really good at killing all kinds of jade, so it's very clever to make it in lantian jade."

Lantian in Tang Dynasty was the land in Beijing, and Yushan (now Wang Shunshan) became the official mine. The imperial court's excavation of lantian jade reached its peak, and Chang 'an even set off a trend of eating jade. Officials and people flocked to lantian jade Mountain to pick up broken jade and pound it into powder. It is said that long-term service can prolong life and live forever. Lantian jade not only became the main tribute of the imperial court, but also set up a special official organization to direct craftsmen to mine jade and drive away a large number of farmers to chisel mountains and back stones.

From the descriptions of Li He, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, in The Song of the Old Lady Picking Jade and Wei's Journey of Picking Jade, we can see the grand occasion of picking jade at that time, and we can also see the blood, tears and bitterness that poor civilians paid for this prosperity. Li Shangyin's poems, such as "The bright moon is full of tears and pearls, Lantian breathes its jade to the sun" and Qian Qi's "Sleeping is better than water, and a piece of new ice is bright", describe the delicacy and luster of lantian jade in Tang Dynasty from different angles.

Great progress has been made in the jade carving technology in the Tang Dynasty. Jade carvings in Lantian at that time included Gui, Bi, Huang, Yan, Rui, Gui, Hu, San, Dun, Heng, Qi, Jun, Zhang, Deng, Huan, Bracelet, Fa, Guan and Jade Belt. Among them, Jade Belt and Jade Step Shake are the most striking: Book of the New Tang Dynasty (Volume 24, Record 14) records that jade is widely used in making jade belts, showing strict hierarchical dignity and authority in use. It is clearly stipulated that jade belts rank above gold and silver in the rank of official uniforms; Jade Step Shake is made of gold and silver inlaid with jade, which is priceless, showing the degree of worship of lantian jade at that time.

The Tang Dynasty was the most prosperous dynasty in the history of China, and Chang 'an in the Tang Dynasty was the center of international economic and cultural exchanges, so there was a great demand for jade. Lantian is adjacent to Chang 'an City. With the long-term large-scale mining by the government and the people, Yushan has been riddled with holes and almost completely excavated.

In April (729), the seventeenth year of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, the Yushan earthquake, "the mountain destroyed more than a hundred steps". The jade mine collapsed, and all the jade seedlings were hidden. Since then, the ancient lantian jade in its heyday has disappeared for nearly a thousand years. In the early Qing Dynasty, lantian jade was rediscovered.

The "Continued Lantian County Records" of the Republic of China records: "There is Yushan in the east of the county, which was called the land of jade production in ancient times. Today, there are few mines in it. The mining jade river in Wangchuan produces all kinds of jade, which is firm and fine. Villagers and masons in Xi 'an use them to make gadgets and decorations, commonly known as vegetable jade. "In the 1970s, geologists discovered lantian jade in Lantian County. 1978165438+1October 23rd People's Daily article: In recent years, Shaanxi geologists have discovered serpentine marble jade in Lantian, which is regarded as lantian jade recorded in ancient times.

This discovery not only attracted the attention of geologists looking for raw materials of Yuzhu, but also attracted the interest of archaeologists. 1982, geological museum, Ministry of Geology and Mineral Resources, exhibiting the original stone of lantian jade. When this serpentine is strong, some parts have become jade like Xiuyu. From the appearance, jade has uneven tones such as yellow and light green, accompanied by light white marble. Although this kind of jade is not very beautiful, because Lantian is located near the ancient city of Xi 'an, the hardness of jade is about 4, and it is easy to process, so the ancients may use it as an ornament. There are two jade articles in the Han Dynasty that are very similar to lantian jade today. One is a jade shop with four gods carved on the door of an ancient tomb unearthed near Maoling, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty in Shaanxi Province. The other is Yu Pei of Han Dynasty in the Palace Museum. Judging from the jade quality and color of these two kinds of jade, many geologists think it is similar to lantian jade today.

1982, Zhou Nanquan compared the "lantian jade" collected by geological museum in Beijing with the jade paving of the four gods of Han Dynasty unearthed in Yu Pei and Maoling in the Palace Museum. They are very similar, so it can be seen that lantian jade was indeed produced in Lantian.

In 2002, Shaanxi Geological Bureau investigated lantian jade, and found that there were 4 jade ore belts and 5 jade ore bodies, with belt strike 1280m-8865m and thickness of 8m-3 1m, and ore body strike 6 15m-4747.5m and thickness/kloc. It is distributed in Yuchuan, Gepai, Cao Ping, Jiaodai and other areas in Lantian County, as well as Hetaogou-Qijiahe and Bamudi-Lengshuigou in Yuchuan Township, with the largest reserves and the best texture. Although the reserve of jade is 6,543,800 cubic meters, only one tenth of it can be really mined.

The latest reference is announcement number 15 issued by AQSIQ on February 3, 2004 according to the Regulations on the Protection of Geographical Products: "According to the Regulations on the Protection of Geographical Products, our bureau has passed the review of the Application for the Protection of Geographical Products in lantian jade, and now we approve the protection of geographical products in lantian jade from now on. The geographical scope of lantian jade is based on the geographical scope proposed by the Lantian County People's Government of Shaanxi Province in the Request for Instructions on Determining the Protection Scope of Geographical Products in lantian jade (Zi [2004] No.7), which is the administrative area under the jurisdiction of Lantian County of Shaanxi Province. "

Following the discovery of lantian jade mine in Lantian, Shaanxi Province in the late 1970s, Jiangsu geologists discovered lantian jade mine when they visited Pizhou Stone Provincial Geopark in Xuzhou. This is the first discovery of lantian jade in Jiangsu Province, which fills the blank of mine types in Jiangsu Province.

Before the establishment of Pizhou Stone Provincial Geopark, Xuzhou invited Mr. Zou, a geological expert, to discuss the scientific connotation of the park. Zou found that some stones in the geological park were very strange in color, and their surfaces were emerald green and very beautiful. Compared with other stones, these green "stones" are more delicate, soft and transparent. After sampling, it will be sent to Nanjing Mineral Resources Supervision and Testing Center of the Ministry of Land and Resources for testing. Gem and jade detection experts believe that the scientific name of the ore discovered in Pizhou is serpentine marble jade, which is often referred to as lantian jade.