文化传承中的时尚：西汉玉璧功能以及文化寓意的再思考

Cultural Prevalence in Tradition:Archaeological Study of Han Jade Pictorial Bi-disc

本文从收藏于加拿大皇家安大略博物馆的三件分区复合纹玉璧的断代所属问题和纹饰风格类型发端,尝试钩沉以汉代玉璧为代表的葬玉制度背后的文化寓意。本文的研究对象是考古遗址墓葬出土的分区复合纹玉璧。作者通过对考古资料的整合,综合考察了 129件分区复合纹玉璧的出土信息,对比了其随葬时代、性质、墓主身份以及玉璧出土所在位置、尺寸、肉好比值区间范围等,对其功能和文化象征意义提出新认识。对以上数据信息的爬梳,实际上松绑了分区复合纹玉璧在汉代承担祭祀和随葬礼器的传统寓意,作者认为,这些玉璧既是承载着文化意义的重器,更是精英社会中风靡一时的装饰物品,主人死后随其一起封存于墓葬中。汉代社会精英权贵对分区复合纹玉璧的喜好和追捧,是千百年来古人对玉璧文化传承和时尚追求的反映,也是汉代人对史前和商周玉璧去宗教化、去礼仪化的过程。

Derived from inquiring into the dating and related issues on three pictorial jade Bi-disc &om the Royal Ontario Museum, the study investigates assemblages of Han dynasty jade Bz-disc with multi-registered design bands focusing on their uses as personal adornment for elite members of the society. The interpretations of Bi-discs are conventionally framed by its ritual significance referring to 让s symbolized functions enabling to transform the tomb owners* spirit into the immortality. Yet, this article aims to re-examine pictorial Bz-discs through statistical data analyses and presentations in terms of associated social statuses, use and placement of them in burials, sizes and ratios of the diameters. The data reveal a disputable fact that the making of pictorial Bz-discs went beyond the system of Bz-disc production as sacrificial and burial objects ever suggested in history. Bz-discs were slowly transformed into decorative artworks with rich meanings. They were profoundly adored by elite members for collecting and gifting for their luxury. Use of Bi-disc in Han dynasty, therefore, has become a cultural prevalence that was rooted in preservation and inheritance of social tradition in recognizing of, as well in being respectful to, jade bi-discs from the past.