This object is cut from jade, the stone the Chinese court valued above every other because it could be worked but never rushed. Jade does not bend; the carver removes everything that is not the object.
The longevity cut is the point. Jade carving rewards a sure hand and punishes a second thought, so the object reads as a single decision rather than a sequence of them.
Han objects carried the vocabulary of an empire learning to picture its own order in bronze and jade.
A object like this was made to outlast its owner by centuries, and it has. The jade still carries the chill it had when it left the Han dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE) bench.
Object details
| Name | Shoushan Stone Fuhu Arhat (寿山石伏虎罗汉) |
|---|---|
| Artefact no. | 故00083645 |
| Technique | Jade |
| Period | Han dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE) |
| Collection | The Palace Museum, Beijing |
| Source | Palace Museum Digital Collection (数字文物库) |
Image © The Palace Museum. View the original in the Palace Museum Digital Collection.