in the Singer collection (Plate 10) is a typical bone artifact. The carving at the spatulate end represents a dragon. The obverted D shapes repeated along the body, although dissimilar to the vulviform cowry symbols painted on the vessel in Plate i, are probably another abstract form of these symbols of prosperity. At the handle end, the carving in its entirety represents the adult, winged cicada. Taken by itself, the forward section of this cicada figure may represent the pupal stage. Since the shrill cries of the cicada are heard at the height of the growing season for some crops and in the season of some summer harvests, its frequent incidence in ancient Chinese art probably stems from association with fertility and abundance. Cicadas carved in jade are frequently found in graves of the Han period. Since the cicada hatches above ground, spends a long period underground, and finally emerges as if in rebirth, these burial tokens were probably intended to induce resurrection by sympathetic magic.
Ivory, rarer and more precious than bone, was infrequently available to Shang carvers. The rare pieces were apparently prized highly, since Shang ivories are most intricately carved and often inlaid with turquoise.
Turquoise was widely used by the Shang artisans for inlay work, even with bronze. The turquoise-inlaid bronze object in the Fogg Museum (Plate n) was an article of harness used to adjust the direction of pull on the reins. The reins passed beneath the belled hooks on either side just as they are passed through rings in ordinary modern harness.
Ceramics continued to be the most widely followed craft, but no longer played the dominant role aesthetically. The most notable Shang ceramic ware is a hard, white stoneware in almost pure kaolin. The Freer Gallery, in Washington, D.C., possesses a superb specimen from the site of old Anyang. While no other whole vessel of this type has been recovered, shards have been found at widely distributed sites. This vase, decorated with symbolic designs such as those found on bronze ritual vessels, was probably used for ritual purposes. Another notable ceramic type discovered at Shang sites is one having a natural ash glaze.
The great bulk of ceramics from Shang sites, however, is an ordinary grey ware of the type common in prehistoric times. A wide distribution of shards in quantity suggests usage in the daily affairs of common people, as does the high incidence of accompanying wooden artifacts. Of the great variety of grey-ware shapes, most derive from traditional forms from the prehistoric period. Lack of originality and aesthetic quality suggests that, for the Shang people, ceramics were more of a utilitarian than an art form. The decorative designs are plain and not especially symbolic, usually impressed or incised into the surface of the clay. A rare, extremely interesting piece of Shang grey ware is in the Ralph Chait collection in New York (Plate 12). This li tripod, instead of conventional legs, has three mammiform lobes tipped with prominent mammillae.
In these again, the magical character of Shang art is evident. Breast and nipple shapes, most overt symbols of fecundity and abundance, are similarly found in ritual bronzes. The marked contrast between the incurving waist, the open arch of the handles, and the swelling forms of the supporting lobes renders this vessel interesting also from the formal point of view.
Painting, sculpture, and architecture, major art forms of later times, held a lesser position in the Shang culture. Michael Sullivan, in his Introduction to Chinese Art, is probably correct when he says that, in the house of an Anyang nobleman, ". . . we would have seen t'ao t'ieh and beaked dragons, cicadas and tigers, painted on the beams of his house and applied to hangings of leather and matting about his rooms, and, very probably, woven into his silk robes," but this is hardly the type of painting which would qualify as a dominant art form. Paul Pelliot reported traces of painted designs seen on Anyang woodwork which resembled designs on ritual bronzes. Only the most scanty remains of Shang painting have been discovered.
Few sculptures, either, have survived from the Shang period. Marble carvings have been found at Anyang and other sites. While some of these represent human forms, most are animal figures of the usimi symbolic types. The small bear in the Singer collection (Plate 13) comprises only basic forms rather than realistic detail. Like much primitive sculpture and some of the most modern, emphasis is upon abstract, geometric shapes and planes rather than upon modeling in the round. The result is strong and aesthetically pleasing but seems lacking in technical skill when compared to bronzes and jades of the period.
The little that is known about Shang architecture comes from inspection of tombs and building foundations. Although these provide some data on methods of construction, much remains speculative. Since stone remains are generally limited to base pieces for pillars, the chief building material must have been wood. Again, since neither brick nor tile was yet known, packed earth was probably used in the walls and straw thatch in the roofs. Judging from imitative bronze forms, roofs were gabled or hipped. We have fragmentary evidence of painted woodwork and of woodwork carved and decorated with inlay. But the largest foundations excavated at the Shang capitals measure about ninety feet on a side, and therefore the palaces and temples, compared with those of contemporary Egypt and Asia Minor, could hardly have been impressive. However, since the rural people surely lived in primitive huts and in caves, as many Chinese do to this day, the higher forms of Shang architecture would have been locally impressive.
While their prehistoric predecessors had lived in nothing larger than villages, the Shang period knew large cities with populations in the thousands and with special districts for the aristocracy, priests, and the various craft guilds such as metalworkers, potters, wood carvers, and stonemasons. The walled inner part of Ao, the first Shang capital, included 3.2 square kilometers (about 1.23 square miles). The built-up area of the later capital at Anyang comprised some 15 square kilometers (about 5.79 square miles). The Shang royal palace stood in the center of the city facing south, since the ruler was likened to the North Star. With the exception of Egypt and Mesopotamia, the Chinese civilization of this time was the most advanced in the world, and even its fragmentary remains are a living testimony to the great culture which the Shang people had evolved.
CHAPTER THREE
The Art of the CHOU DYNASTY
(o. 1100 B.C.-221 B.C.)
AFTER SOME five centuries of rule, the deteriorating Shang dynasty was succeeded by the Chou. This change of dynasties was more political than cultural in nature. Chou was a buffer state on the western frontier in what is now Shensi Province. The ruler of Chou, in displacing the dissolute last Shang emperor, contributed primarily political and military vitality, attributes fostered by continual threat of invasion of the rich valley regions to the east of Chou by barbarians from the west. Since Chou was a frontier region, direct cultural contribution from Chou political dominance would have been doubtful in the extreme. But this rule—the longest in Chinese history, covering the eight centuries between noo and 221 B.C. —eventually encompassed one of the most creative epochs in Chinese art and philosophy.
In contrast to the Shang period, during which the only written records were in the form of oracle bones and inscriptions on bronze, the Chou period produced a rich and varied literature. Most of the Chinese Classics were composed during the latter part of this period. Among them are the I Ching, or Book of Changes, a manual of divination for foretelling the future; the Shu Ching, or Book of History, a collection of documents, speeches, reports, and legends concerning the early history of China; and the Shih Ching, or Book of Songs, an anthology of 311 poems. While most of these poems are of a purely lyrical nature, some have a political or legendary theme and others are sacrificial songs originally sung during ritual dances. Arthur Waley has translated one of the latter as follows:
'With the Thing Purified, the Thing Bright,
With our bullocks for sacrifice, and our sheep
We come to honour the Earth Spirit, to honour the quarters.
For
