{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/2/context.json","@type":"sc:Manifest","@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/gettysburg/iiif/5b3517ce-ac40-4bf4-bfd1-1023d6d921c1/manifest","label":"gaa_miniature-altar-gu-vase_a4_a4","metadata":[{"label":"Identifier","value":"gaa_miniature-altar-gu-vase_a4_a4"},{"label":"Citation","value":"Object Name, Date Original (if known), GettDigital: Asian Art Collection, Special Collections / Musselman Library, Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Access Date, Link to Item"},{"label":"Repository","value":"Special Collections and College Archives, Musselman Library, Gettysburg College"},{"label":"Inventory Number","value":"A4"},{"label":"Accessioning Note","value":"Acquired from Dr. Nott, the House of Jade, NY, NY. This was part of a group of items that once belonged to an English family. A note from Dr. Frank Kramer's folder \"Oriental Art-Inventory/Copy #1\" (in Kramer's box 4, file #17), refers to this item as a fine white translucent jade miniature altar vase delicately carved in high relief with the Sword leaves and stylized Iris design from the Tao Kuang period, circa 1840."},{"label":"Part of","value":["Asian Art GettDigital Collection"]},{"label":"Provenance","value":"The Estate of Prof. Frank Kramer; A note from Dr. Frank Kramer's folder \"Oriental Art-Inventory/Copy #1\" (in Kramer's box 4, file #17), refers to this item as a fine white translucent jade miniature altar vase delicately carved in high relief with the Sword leaves and stylized Iris design from the Tao Kuang period, circa 1840."},{"label":"Genre","value":["Artifacts"]},{"label":"Object Location","value":"J.12"},{"label":"Date","value":"D:00 M:00 Y:1821 - D:00 M:00 Y:1850"},{"label":"Date Original","value":"19th century CE (1821-1850 CE)"},{"label":"Era","value":["Daoguang reign","Qing dynasty"]},{"label":"Measurement","value":"Height: 14.7 cm; Width of mouth: 4.2 cm; Length of mouth: 6.2 cm; Thickness: 5 mm; Original wood stand height: 1.9 cm"},{"label":"Medium","value":["Light green jade, excellent translucency, well polished","Jade"]},{"label":"Country of Origin","value":["China"]},{"label":"Description","value":"This miniature archaic vessel takes the form of a gu, an early ritual wine goblet (sometimes called ku, Wade-Giles Romanization) of a rectangular design, used in ancient time to place on the private Altar to Earth, either as a wine container or as a receptacle for the appropriate floral offering. In later times, rituals vessels were used in divinatory ceremonies for sacrificial offerings of meat, wine, and grain, primarily to the spirits of clan ancestors, especially those of the ruler and his family. Used in ancestor worshipping, ritual bronze and jade vessels were decorated in a sacred language, the language of the dead, signifying to the worshipper that it is an art of another world. This effect was achieved in decorations that were often distorted, disjointed, or conjoined of different animals in a single motif, so that they cannot refer to any knowable entity. This small gu has a wide mouth, a trumpet-shaped top, a narrow waist, a restricted centre section, and a slightly flared base; the whole silhouette was unusually taut and graceful. Its neck and foot are decorated with the cicada motif, a less prominent but frequent and very stylized motif in many vessels. At the bottom part of the cicada motif is the Meander or key-fret pattern. It is the natural symbol of death and transformation. The belly or center of the vessel is elaborately adorned with the taotie mask (or monster mask), an enduring and common but intriguing motif with a religious and mythological meaning that has elicited discussions from many great scholars upon its nature, meaning, and expressiveness.* The taotie mask decorated on this vessel has a recognizable form of the Luh or Stag, a pattern are not generally found on religious vessels, set off against a background itself covered all over with a squared whorl known as leiwen or 'thunder spiral'. The quality of jadeite used during the Ch'ing period was of the finest. The carving style is elaborated, with minute details executed in low relief. The Chinese's self-conscious reproduction of past forms was in part of an inevitable consequence of an effort to revive past values. The use of these motives in design on jade ritual vessels was not simply a continuation of an artistic tradition, but the inheritance of conventional beliefs and myths. From the late Ming to the Ch'ing period, due to economic expansion, new classes of the literati and the wealthy emerged; they are eager for objects that carry past values. Jade was obviously used for worldly display. Bronze vessels were modified to jade ones for use on private altars or studies as an association of the past. This vessel may have been one of the \"inspiration pieces\", an ornamental object of the literati's study. * the term taotie is referred in archaeological studies. The English equivalent terms are \"animal mask\", \"monster mask\". For a thorough analysis on this motif, see Li Xueqin \"Liangzhu Culture and the Shang Dynasty Taotie Motif' in Whitfield, Roderick ed. The Problem of Meaning in Early Chinese Ritual Bronzes, pp. 56-66."},{"label":"Title","value":"Miniature Altar gu vase"},{"label":"Rights","value":"Materials available through GettDigital encompass a wide range of works, many of which are in the public domain. However, some items may still be protected by copyright or other intellectual property rights. Users are responsible for determining the copyright status of materials and ensuring compliance with all applicable laws when reproducing or publishing these works. Items in our GettDigital Collections are for educational use. For assistance in understanding rights, obtaining permissions, or requesting files for publication or research purposes, please contact us at <a href=\"www.gettysburg.edu/special-collections/ask-an-archivist\">www.gettysburg.edu/special-collections/ask-an-archivist</a>"},{"label":"Reference URL","value":"http://cdm16274.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p4016coll6/id/2044"}],"description":"Miniature Altar gu vase","sequences":[{"@type":"sc:Sequence","canvases":[{"@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/gettysburg/iiif/5b3517ce-ac40-4bf4-bfd1-1023d6d921c1/canvas/_1","@type":"sc:Canvas","label":"Miniature Altar gu vase","height":1506,"width":719,"images":[{"@type":"oa:Annotation","motivation":"sc:painting","resource":{"@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/gettysburg/iiif/5b3517ce-ac40-4bf4-bfd1-1023d6d921c1/full/full/0/default.jpg","@type":"dctypes:Image","format":"image/jpeg","service":{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/context.json","@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/gettysburg/iiif/5b3517ce-ac40-4bf4-bfd1-1023d6d921c1","profile":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/level2.json","tiles":[{"width":512,"scaleFactors":[1,2,4]}]},"height":1506,"width":719},"on":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/gettysburg/iiif/5b3517ce-ac40-4bf4-bfd1-1023d6d921c1/canvas/_1","metadata":[]}],"thumbnail":{"@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/gettysburg/iiif/5b3517ce-ac40-4bf4-bfd1-1023d6d921c1/full/500,500/0/default.jpg","@type":"dctypes:Image","height":500,"width":500}}]}],"thumbnail":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/gettysburg/iiif/5b3517ce-ac40-4bf4-bfd1-1023d6d921c1/full/500,500/0/default.jpg","logo":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/gettysburg/iiif/logo"}