Nice Surprise Package From The ISCBS

[George]

Got a nice little surprise package in the mail today.. !

Totally unexpected, and especially since I thought back issued had to be purchased..

About 90% of the text is in Chinese, but still... Beautiful journals that hold some pics of stunning bottles..

By the way... What is this jade object ?  One of the pamphlets is devoted to these Jade items..

[Steven]

Hi George,

That is a Jade belt clip. Nice one, could be Hetian Jade..

[rpfstoneman]

Nice George,

But I have to ask, where did these magazines come from?  I see that they are a Chinese publication and I have not seen this publication before.

Charll

[George]

The return address says the ICSBS, but now am looking closer.. The post mark is from Taiwan..

So now am not even sure who from the ICSBS in China sent these..

Hmmm....

Am I missing something.. I don't believe any of our present members belong to that society .

[Peter Bentley 彭达理]

They  cannot possibly  be from the  REAL  ICSBS  :     the    ICSBS  only  started    bi-lingual  publishing   last  May ( 2011)

They are  definitely  from Taiwan  -  they  are  using traditional    script 

Maybe  Dylan  Chu  arranged to send them ?

The   white object  is  ( if  I not  mistaken ) a  " Ru Yi "

Google  "Ru Yi "  with Google  images 

Cheers   Peter

[Tom B.]

Hi George,

Congratulations on receiving that nice gift.  The white jade item is called a belt hook in the vernacular of English speaking collectors and is decorated with a chilong dragon's head on the top end and a full chilong dragon on the lower surface.  The following photo is one of mine like it:

[Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司]

Beautiful white Nephrite Jade belthook, Tom!
    Was there a woven silk loop on the other side that was slipped over the chilong head? I've seen many belthooks, but never in use...
Joey

Oh, George, by the way,  those are NOT published by the ICSBS. I don't recognise them. Are they interesting?
Joey

[Tom B.]

Thank you for asking that question Joey, I learned something new searching for an image to show.  The following is an image of a jade belt hook with part of the original silk belt attached; it dates back to the time of the Yuan Dynasty 1271 - 1368 CE:



I also found an image that shows one of the earliest glass objects made in China also from the Yuan Dynasty:




Best regards,

Tom

[George]

Oh, George, by the way,  those are NOT published by the ICSBS. I don't recognise them. Are they interesting?
Joey

They are full of beautiful snuff bottle pictures, but the majority of the text is in Chinese..

[Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司]

Tom,
   Nice piece of glass, but not the earliest by far. I've seen Han Glass, comparable to the Roman glass of the same period. It was thought at first to be Roman and imported, until analysis was done of the glass, and it was traced to Chinese material components.
   It may well have been produced by Roman artisans (or Jewish, since most glassmaking in the Roman empire was done by Jews, and after the destruction of the Second Temple, in 70 CE., many Jews would have escaped wherever they could), working in China.

  George, Was it shipped to you from the ICSBS in Baltimore?
Joey

[George]

  George, Was it shipped to you from the ICSBS in Baltimore?

No, they came from Taiwan.

[Tom B.]

Hi Joey,

I guess it is a matter of quantity that determine the title for some Museum Scholars:

The information about "earliest glass" comes from an important retrospective of Daily Life in "The world of Kubilai Khan" at the Metropolitan Museum, New York September 2010 - January 2011.
 
The caption and text pertaining to the Cup and tray are as follows:

"Cup and Saucer, Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), China. Glass; Cup: H. 1 15/16 in. (4.9 cm), Diam. of rim 3 1/2 in. (8.9 cm), Diam. of foot 1 5/16 in. (3.4 cm); Tray: H. 1/2 in. (1.2 cm), Diam. 6 in. (15.2 cm). Lent by Gansu Provincial Museum
 
Prior to the Yuan period, glass cups in China were imported from the West. This cup and saucer are among the earliest known Chinese products of their kind. They were most likely made in Zibo, Shandong Province, where the site of a large-scale glass workshop dating from the Yuan period has been discovered."


From a different source I found that besides glass beads they were making Monochrome opaque objects like the following over 2000 years ago:
 
During the Warring States and Han periods, Chinese glassworkers took advantage of the similarities between glass and jade. In this period many glass objects, found in burial contexts, were made of opaque green, light green or milky white glass. These objects have similar shapes to their jade counterpart, and were no doubt imitating that precious stone. Among these objects there were bi disks, ‘glass garments’ (or glass suits), sword accessories and vessels, among others.
 
Bi disks
 
A bi disk is a ritual object that resembles a flattened torus. The earliest archeological specimens were carved from stone (usually nephrite) and date back to the late Neolithic period; they became important burial elements during the 3rd millennium BCE. They were placed on or near the head of the deceased person.
 
Glass bi disks are the most numerous kind of monochrome glass objects. They first became abundant in the Chu kingdom during the Warring States period. Bi disks from this period tend to be between 7.9 and 9.4 cm in diameter. The glass bi disks look very similar to their stone contemporaries, usually decorated on one side with a simple grain or cloud pattern typical of jade objects. They are mainly found in medium to small-sized tombs, indicating the middle strata of society rather than the elite. This suggests that glass bi disks were regarded as cheaper alternatives to jade bi disks.
 
Glass burial suit plaques
 
Plaques from glass burial suits or glass garments are directly linked to jade objects. Several pieces of burial suit plaques have been found in a few wooden-chambered burials from the late West Han Dynasty. The plaques come in different shapes, with rectangular being the most common. Some of these rectangular pieces have perforations in 4 corners, indicating that they were strung together, or sewn into a fabric, to form a protective burial suit. Other shapes, such as circular, triangular and rhomboidal, are often decorated with moulded patterns. All the glass plaque shapes have jade counterparts, suggesting that glass burial suits were a cheaper alternative to jade burial suits.
 
Vessels
 
The earliest known Chinese glass vessels come from Western Han Dynasty tombs. To this date only two tombs are known to have had glass vessels among their funerary objects: the tomb of the Lui Dao, Prince of Chu in Xuzhou (128 BC), Jiangsu Province; and the tomb of Liu Sheng, Prince Jing of Zhongshan (113BC) at Mancheng. The tomb at Xuzhou contained 16 light green cylindrical cups; while Prince Liu Sheng’s tomb contained 2 shallow double-handled cups and a plate. All of the vessels were traditional Chinese shapes and made of lead-barium glass. Vessels in these forms were normally made out of lacquer or ceramic, although some jade vessels in those shapes are also known. All vessels were produced by mould casting.

Best regards,

Tom

[Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司]

Dear Tom,
   Thank you, that article was quite authoritative, and backed up my statement. But who is Ed? ;-)
I hope you are getting over your illness, and enjoy your time in the Northeast USA,
 Joey

[Tom B.]

Hi Joey,

Ed is middle name and old habit from having too many Tom's around at one time. 

Best regards,

Tom

[richy88]

Hi George

They are from The Chinese Snuff Bottle Association from Taipei.

I received a few issues from its current President, Mr Jason Chen.

For your information.

Regards.


Richard

[George]

Thank you Richard