Chinese ivories of Tang Dynasty （三）

From Zhou dynasty, Chinese government officials began to use a special "notebook" called "Hu" (笏板) when meeting the emperor. Please see the picture below,

"Hu" is used to note down the key points that an official wants to report to the emperor. It can be made of jade, bamboo or other material and its length is around 30-40 cm. From Old Book of Tang (旧唐书·舆服志), Tang dynasty began to use ivory to make Hu. However, Only officials above the fifth rank could use ivory for their Hu.

The officials' ranking system in Tang dynasty from the highest to the lowest is as follows

正一品 Rank 1 從一品 Vice Rank 1

正二品 Rank 2 從二品 Vice Rank 2

正三品 Rank 3 從三品 Vice Rank 3

正四品上 Rank 4-1 正四品下 Rank 4-2 從四品上 Vice Rank 4-1 從四品下 Vice Rank 4-2

正五品上 Rank 5-1 正五品下 Rank 5-2 從五品上 Vice Rank 5-1 從五品下 Vice Rank 5-2

正六品上 Rank 6-1 正六品下 Rank 6-2 從六品上 Vice Rank 6-1 從六品下 Vice Rank 6-2

正七品上 Rank 7-1 正七品下 Rank 7-2 從七品上 Vice Rank 7-1 從七品下 Vice Rank 7-2

正八品上 Rank 8-1 正八品下 Rank 8-2 從八品上 Vice Rank 8-1 從八品下 Vice Rank 8-2

正九品上 Rank 9-1 正九品下 Rank 9-2 從九品上 Vice Rank 9-1 從九品下 Vice Rank 9-2

流外官 Others not ranking among 1 - 9

We did not yet find any Hu of Tang dynasty. Below, I show two Hu examples of Ming dynasty.

According to Tang Huiyao, in the year of 789 A.D., the emperor Dezong of Tang created a new festival called Zhong He festival (every February the second of the lunar calendar) and established a series of celebrating activities to pray for good harvest of this year. Among these activities, people gave each other rulers as presents. You might be curious why? In fact, according to Six Codes of Tang dynasty (大唐六典·尚署令), during Zhong He festival, Tang royal family gave some very finely carved ivory rulers as presents to their relatives. There are several guesses about its meaning. First guess is that the emperor wanted to encourage the officials to "measure" (or thinking wisely) before making decisions. The second guess is that the emperor wanted to use the same rules to reign the whole nation. The ruler might be considered as a symbole of justice and fairness. Anyway, the tradition of giving rulers as presents during this festival became a custom in the whole country and ever since.

The ivory rulers of Tang dynasty have another name --- "Ba Lou ivory ruler" (拨镂牙尺). "Ba Lou" here refers to the fact that these ivory rulers are tinted red and green etc. with decorative patterns. These special objects reflect the very high level of ivory carving techniques of Tang. There are 11 known Tang ivory rulers in the world. One is stored in Shanghai Museum and the other 10 pieces are stored in Shōsōin in Japan.

The above two pieces are examples of Tang ivory rulers, which are stored in Shōsōin. The carving as well as the color of them are amazing.

The Chinese treasures in Shōsōin mainly came from Empress Kōmyō after the death of the Emperor Shōmu in 756 A.D. Most of these treasures were brought to Japan by the Japanese missions to imperial China during Tang dynasty. 

We show below one other ivory carving of Tang stored in Shōsōin.

This is a tool to play Pipa. As can be seen from the picture, the carving style as well as the tinted colors are very similar to Tang ivory rulers.

Chinese ivories of Tang Dynasty （二）

Today, I will introduce a very important ivory figure ever found of Tang dynasty --- the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra.

This figure measures 15.9 cm in height and 3.5 cm in thickness and is preserved in Chinese National Museum of History. The outer side of the ivory is an elephant carrying the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra and many other small Buddhist figures. The inner surfaces are divided into compartments containing trinities of images, and forty-five Buddhist stories. The detail in this figure is amazing. There are 279 figures and 12 wagons, which are of different forms. The overall carving has strong Gandhara style of Buddhist art.

This diptych is proposed to be Chinese work of the late seventh century, possibly manufactured in Chang'an, a copy of an original from the Gandharan-Jibin area in which Chinese elements are included. Features such as the base of the external sculpture and the treatment of the lotus seats for the Buddha images on the interior of the piece point to early Tang China for the date and provenance of the piece. This ivory sculpture is not only the most important and interesting piece of Chinese ivory carving of the Tang period known to us today but it also represents an excellent ivory example of the eclecticism characteristic of most of the arts in the metropolitan areas of early Tang China. However, there is a possibility that this ivory figure was created in India according to other legends about it. And it is a long story...

The story of its provenance
This precious ivory figure comes from a small village called Anxi of Gansu province, where we find the famous Yulin Caves. You could see its position in the map.

Yulin Caves is a Buddhist cave temple site. The site is located some 100 km east of the oasis town of Dunhuang and the Mogao Caves. It takes its name from the eponymous elm trees lining the Yulin River, which flows through the site and separates the two cliffs from which the caves have been excavated. The forty-two caves house some 250 polychrome statues and 4,200 m2 of wall paintings, dating from the Tang Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty (seventh to fourteenth centuries).

According to the legend, this ivory figure is a present to Xuanzang (602-664) from the King of India at that time. And Xuanzang left this treasure at the Yulin Caves. It is also said that there exist two figures, which were all carved from the same tusk. The upper solid part was carved into this Samantabhadra figure and was given to Xuanzang. The bottom empty part was also carved into a Bodhisattva figure and was still in India.

For a thousand year nobody has found out this ivory figure. Until the fourth year of Yongzheng emperor, Gendong Wu, the taoist abbot of Yulin Caves, has found this precious ivory treasure when clearing blown sands of a cave. In the late Qing period, the figure was given to the taoist abbot Yuan Yang for keeping and protection. Soon bandits attacked Yulin Caves and threatened Yuan Yang to give out the Samantabhadra figure. Yuan Yang rejected it and was killed. After his death, the ivory was kept by his apprentice Jiaorong Yan. Sadly, several years later, the bandits attacked Yulin Caves again for this figure and killed Jiaorong Yan and another taoist priest. The ivory figure lost its track ever since.

In 1927, a young man called Yuanheng Guo came to Yulin Caves for protection and became a taoist priest. The taoist abbot, Ronggui Ma, told him that the Samantabhadra ivory figure was hidden in the mouth of a dragon sculpture in the main hall. He told Yuanheng that "this ivory figure cannot be taken out to public until the war in China is over". In 1930, Ronggui Ma was also killed for protecting the figure. It was the fourth life cost.

In the May of 1945, the famous painter Daqian Zhang came to Dunhuang and visited Yulin Caves three times for the trace of the ivory Samantabhadra figure. It was said that Daqian Zhang asked Yuanheng Guo several times and offered 2000 silver coins to buy it. But Yuanheng rejected to tell anything about the figure. After Daqian Zhang, the famous calligrapher Youren Yu also visited Yulin Caves for the ivory figure. Once again, he returned with empty hands.

In the spring of 1950, one year after the birth of New China, Yuanheng Guo handed the precious ivory figure of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra to the administration of Xi'an. 

Yuanheng Guo (1896 - 1976)

Chinese ivories of Tang Dynasty （一）

Tang Dynasty (618 - 907)

After the Golden Years of ZhenGuan, Tang becomes a very powerful empire. Because of the economic prosperity at that time, China had many exchanges with countries of South/Southeast Asia, such as India, Thailand, Burma, Sumatra, Java, Sri Lanka, in the fields of art, religion and culture. Tang imported a lot of high-quality ivories, rhinoceros horns form these countries. The records also tell us that in the 7th century, the elephant was still plentiful in Ton-king and in the prefectures of Ch'ao-chou, Hui-chou and Lei-chou in China. Thus, the development of ivory carving in Tang Dynasty had a solid material foundation.

Although the ivory carving entered a glorious era, only the upper governmental class can enjoy it at that time. 

(1) Figures

This is a very rare ivory figure of Tang lady with polychrome decoration. Ht. 8 3/4". Dogg Museum of Art. Ex Winthrop collection. The carver ingeniously used the curved shape of ivory to represent a dancing position. The carving style looks very similar to Tang Sancai figures, which gives us a clumsy but graceful feeling. Another reason for this "keep-shape carving" style is to save as much ivory as possible since ivory was considered a very precious material at that time. A particularity of Tang ivory figures is that they are often polychrome. As shown in this next figure,

this figure depicts the Bodhisattva Padmapani Lokeshvara.  Ht. 33 cm. Cleveland Museums. This ivory shows traces of polychrome on the hair. It was made in the province of Yunnan, which is close to Nepal. The subject as well as the carving style is clearly influenced by Nepal art. This is a very interesting figure. Its face is relatively "fat", which accords with the aesthetic of Tang dynasty. Its thin body as well as the decorations is close to Nepalese art style.

This is a very rare ivory figure of sitted Guanyin with polychrome decoration. Late Tang Dynasty. Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

The Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, in China Guanyin, an abbreviation of Guanshiyin, the bodhisattva who hears the cries of the World, has appeared to earthly devotees in a variety of manifestations. These have special and appropriate names which are used in divers context: prayers, texts, paintings, prints, oral stories, plays and vernacular fiction. ref [1]

This figure is perhaps the earliest ivory figure of Guanyin we could find. It uses keep-shape carving with plenty of details, the fan, the rosary, etc. Its face is absolutely beautiful and looks like a baby's face.  This piece is typical and helps us understand the beauty through eyes of people living in Tang dynasty. 

The art of Tang is remarkable in Chinese art history.

[1] Chinese ivories from the Shang to the Qing, 1984.