Description
BUY WITH CONFIDENCE. GUARANTEED AUTHENTIC AND AS DESCRIBED OR YOUR MONEY BACK! Today we are happy to offer for sale a beautiful antique Chinese carved jade Bi disc! The bi is a type of circular ancient Chinese jade artifact. The earliest bi were produced in the Neolithic period, particularly by the Liangzhu culture (3400–2250 BCE). Later examples date mainly from the Shang, Zhou and Han dynasties. A bi is a flat jade disc with a circular hole in the center. As laboriously crafted objects, they testify to the concentration of power and resources in the hands of a small elite. Later traditions associate the bi with heaven; Bi disks are consistently found with heaven and earth-like imagery, suggesting that the disk’s circular shape also bears symbolic significance as this description explains: It is found that these objects testify to early stages of development of cosmological concepts that remained important in Chinese culture during the Warring States and Han periods: the notion of a covering sky (gaitian) that revolves around a central axis, the cycle of the Ten Suns, and the use of an early form of the carpenter’s square. These objects were handled by shamans who were the religious leaders of Liangzhu society and the transmitters of cosmological knowledge. This beautiful antique bi disc is finely crafted and detailed of beautiful two-tone spinach jade. The bi disc features the three dimensional high relief carving of two opposing qilins. The qilin or Chinese unicorn is a mythical beast that symbolizes good luck and prosperity. According to tradition in China, Korea, and Japan, a qilin would appear to signal the birth or death of a particularly benevolent ruler or sage scholar. The reverse side of the bi disc features a continuous spiral pattern; the spiral reflects the universal pattern of growth and evolution and represents the goddess, the womb, fertility and life force energy. The disc presents beautifully and is in excellent antique condition, with very minimal display wear and patina. There is minuscule area of slight roughness on the side edge of disc (no doubt a natural characteristic of the stone). Add beautiful Chinese ancient scholarly refinement to any antique artifact and jade collection with this rare and precious bi disc…Fresh to the market! Dimensions: 2-1/4″ in diameter and 1/2″ in depth Total Weight: 54 grams NOTE: Shipping cost is comprised of virtually all insurance. We do not mark up shipping. 19MR/391/K/F
