Product Description
ANCIENT ARCHAIC GREYISH JADE TWO DRAGON BI DISK WITH MILLET GRAIN DESIGN CARVING.
BROWN AND RUSSET INCLUSIONS AND VEINS. FINELY CARVED DETAILS.
SIZE: 13.5 X 9.5 CM, 0.5 CM THICK.
JADE PI–DISK FOR HEAVENLY DEITIES:
THE EARLIEST “PI-DISK” OR “BI-DISK” WERE PRODUCED IN THE NEOLITHIC PERIOD, PARTICULARLY BY THE LIANGZHU CULTURE (3400-2250 BC) WITH THE CULTURAL SIGNIFICATION. NEOLITHIC PI-DISKS ARE UNDECORATED, WHILE THOSE OF LATER PERIODS OF CHINA, LIKE THE ZHOU DYNASTY, BEAR INCREASINGLY ORNATE SURFACE CARVING WHOSE MOTIFS REPRESENTED DEITIES ASSOCIATED WITH THE SKY (FOUR DIRECTIONS) DECORATED WITH ORNAMENTS, WAVES, CHARACTERS AND VARIOUS MYTHICAL ANIMALS AS WELL AS STANDING FOR QUALITIES AND POWERS THE WEARER WANTED TO INVOKE.
PI-DISK IS A VERY LABORIOUSLY CRAFTED JADE OBJECT, THEY BELIEVED TO BE THE CONCENTRATION OF POWER AND RESOURCES IN THE HANDS OF A SMALL ELITE GROUP OF ARISTOCRATS IN ANCIENT CHINA. THEY WERE USED IN WORSHIP AND RELIGIOUS CEREMONY AS CEREMONIAL ITEMS, THEY ALSO SYMBOLISED THE RANKS OF EMPEROR, KING, DUKE, MARQUIS, VISCOUNT, AND BARON. FROM EARLIEST TIMES THEY WERE BURIED WITH THE DEAD, AS A SKY SYMBOL, ACCOMPANYING THE DEAD INTO THE AFTER WORLD OR “SKY”, WITH THE “CONG” WHICH CONNECTED THE BODY WITH THE EARTH.
PI-DISKS ARE PRECISELY CARVED FLAT DISK, MOSTLY ROUND SHAPE, WITH ONE MIDDLE HOLE OF VARIOUS SIZES. ONE OF THE MOST ESSENTIAL OBJECTS FOR THE FUNERALS, HELP TO GET THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE EARTH AND THE SKY USED AS STATUS AND POWER SYMBOL OF THE RULING CLASSS, IN RITUAL AND SERVE SYMBOLIC PURPOSES. ALTHOUGH NOT PROVED, SYMBOLIZES THE SUN AND/OR THE SKY AND BE SIGNS OF ETERNAL LIFE (CIRCLE WITHOUT BEGINNING AND WITHOUT END).
SINCE PI-DISKS WERE FOUND IN GRAVE PLANTS OF DIFFERENT DYNASTIES IT IS POSSIBLE TO DISTINGUISH THESE OFTEN ACCORDING THE CARVED PATTERN AND MOTIVES. THE OUTSIDE DIAMETER AND THE COMPLETE SIZE OF A PI-DISK VARY FROM ABOUT 1 CENTI METER, UP TO ABOUT 1 METER, THE AVERAGE SIZE LIES ABOUT 20-30 CENTI METER.
THE DESIGN OF THE REVERSE SIDE OF THE OLYMPIC MEDALS WERE BASED ON “PI-DISK”, GIVEN IN THE 2008 SUMMER OLYMPICS IN BEIJING, CHINA.
