Collection of Ancient Chinese Cultural Relics, Volume 6

This book, a collection of ancient Chinese cultural relics from the Northern and Southern Dynasties from 960 to 1279. It covers jade and bronze ware, gold and silver ware and porcelain ware, pottery, porcelain, painting, calligraphy, and handicrafts. There are 363 relics in the book.

In 960, Zhao Kuangtin, commander of the imperial guard troops of the later Zhou Dynasty staged a mutiny at Chenqiao and proclaimed himself emperor. He named his new dynasty the Song Dynasty and chose Dongling Kaifeng for the capital. This dynasty now called the Northern Song in history, gradually eliminated rival regimes and ended the separation of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, co-existing with the Liao Regime established by the Qidan ethic group and Western Xia Regime established by the Dangxian ethic group. In 1127 Emperors Huizong and Quinzong were taken captive by the Jin Dynasty established by the Jurchen people, thus ending the Northern Song Dynasty. In the same year, Zhao Gou, then King King, established the imperial court of Song and moved the capital to Linhan (present day Hangzhou City in Zhejiang). This is what history calls the Southern Song Dynasty, and formed a glance at the Jin and Western Xia.

In this period, thanks to easy politics and a relatively emancipated ideology, great achievements were obtained in various scientific technologies, theoretical trends, academic schools, religious thought and literary creation and the arts also showed an unprecedented prosperous science. Jade ware penetrated various aspects of social life, and he shapes, decorations and patterns all showed a distinctive secularisation. The invasion of northern nomads introduced a new cultural atmosphere to the Central Plains.

The porcelain kilns could be found everywhere and finally developed into eight major systems: Ding, Yaozhou, Cizhou, Jun, Yuezhou, Longquan, Jingdezhen blueish white porcelain and Jian kilns. As well, there were four major royal kilns: Ru Kiln and Jun Kiln of the Northern Song Dynasty and Xiunesisi Kiln and Jiaotanxia Kiln of the Southern Dynasty.

The arts of calligraphy and painting were typical representatives of the flourishing culture in the Song Dynasty. During this period an imperial art academy was founded, enlisting folk artists and a large number of professional painters were trained. Calligraphers of the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties inherited previous styles but also emphasised the representation of the individual subjective will. Other handicrafts developed: gold and silver ware tended to be light, handy and graceful.

In the Song Dynasty, people has less costly funerals so less jade has been unearthed. Those that have are in: Sichuan, Zhejiang and Jiangxis. The emphasis is on practical utensils, drinking vessels, dress adornments and accessories. At the same time, there was progress in the technologies of jade carving: layered piercing and large-scale jade ware.

This book, the sixth in a ten-volume collection, brings to the English-speaking world a series of books from China which has been complied by an Expert Committee of the Chinese Society of Cultural Relics. There are 363 descriptions.