Measuring 158cm, I wonder how tall the Jin Marchioness of these penchants are worn from waist down.
National Treasure 国宝
Jade Pendants of the Jin Marchioness 晋侯夫人組玉佩
Jadeite | Western Zhou (11th century BC – 771 BC) | Excavated from Tomb 63 at the cemetery of Marquis of Jin at Beizhao vilage, Quwo County, Shanxi Province | Shanxi Museum collection. 玉器｜西周（公元前11世纪 一前771年）｜山西省曲沃县北赵村晋侯墓地63号墓出土 ｜ 山西博物馆藏
The jade pendants consist of 204 pieces of 玉璜 jade huang (⋂ arc, one of the six ritual jade shapes)1, 玉珩 jade heng (⋃ arc or rectangular, used as counter weight)2, 冲牙 jade chongya (a pendant shaped like a tooth), 玉管 jade tubes, 绿松石珠 turquoise beads, 玛瑙管 agate tube, etc of varying sizes arranged vertically into three main columns.3
Significance of Jade in Ancient Society
Jade pendant sets are structurally characterised by multiple jade huang connected with abundant jade stone tubes and beads in the Western Zhou period, embodying ritual, moral, and hierarchical significance.4
A huang 璜 is a Chinese arc-shaped jade artefact that was used as a pendant. Huang arcs were used in a jade pei ornament set 玉组佩, which would be worn from the belt. The pendant set would emit a faint pleasant sound as the wearer walked5, in line with the customs of Confucian etiquette.6
Jade objects originally begun as forms of spiritual connections or value but in later years, developed into symbols of authority and status. Throughout Neolithic Chinese culture, jade remained, however, saturated in purposeful iconography and symbolism. Especially during the Shang dynasty and the Western Zhou period, jade objects see representations of celestial beings who played key roles in communicating with ancestral spirits. Later, with the transition to the early Eastern Zhou period, jade objects began to lose their connectivity to Heavenly powers and instead reflected the political authority and status of their owners.7
In the Western Zhou, people started to associate moral connotations to the use of jade, such as morality. This eventually led to the formation of Chinese jade belief system of how “a gentleman compares virtues to a gem”, a concept which was later fully elaborated by Confucius (c. 551 – c. 479 BC, active during the first half of Eastern Zhou during the Spring and Autumn period), who would then compare the qualities of a jade to the 5 virtues (kindness, wisdom, integrity, courage, and purity) of a gentleman (jūnzi 君子) in the Book of Rites 礼记.8
Design of the Jade Pendants
Tomb No. 63 of the Marquis of Jin is special, not only because of the grand scale of its burial goods, but also in terms of the form of burial system; it breaks the usual “one marquis and one wife buried together”, and forms the tomb combination of “one marquis and two wives” with the tomb No. 62 and tomb No. 64.9 In the middle column, there are 19 pieces of jade huang, 3 pieces of jade heng (straight pieces), and 2 pieces of 玉雁 jade geese.
There are 13 pieces of jade heng and 1 piece of chongya that make up the left and right columns respectively. The upper part is connected by jade tubes, jade beads and agates beads. Huang and heng are carved with different postures of double dragon patterns, double-headed bird patterns, and human dragon combined patterns.10
At the bottom, there is a pair of jade geese and a pair of jade silkworms. The shape is lifelike, which adds vitality to the set. It is probably the owner’s yearning for breaking the cocoon and rebirth.11
Besides the jade pendant set, there are many other jade artefacts that are excavated from Tomb 63 as well. This is unusual for the second wife of the Marquis to receive more funerary goods than the Marquis or the first wife. Perhaps, she was a great collector, or she was more favoured by the Marquis.
What is really interesting is the Shang jade artefacts used for rituals that are buried together with the rest of the funerary goods. The amount of jade burial goods exceed compared to King Wu of Shang’s wife, Fuhao.16
About Chinese National Treasure Series
中華國寶系列 Chinese National Treasure series feature specific artefacts and relics from museums all around the world that are historically significant to be considered a National Treasure. The series covers the 5,000 years of Chinese civilisation from Neolithic periods before the Xia dynasty (c. 2070-1600 BC) to modern day.
Footnotes :
- The Six Ritual Jades originating in pre-history were the bi 璧 (a flat disk with a hole in its center), the cong 琮 (prismatic tube),[7] the huang 璜 (a flat, half-ring pendant), the hu 琥, the flat, bladelike gui 圭, and the zhang 璋. The original names, value and functions of these objects have invited much speculation. The Zhou Li, itself probably compiled in the Han dynasty, ascribes the circular bi as representing the heavens, the cong as representing the earth, the gui the east, the zhang the south, the hu the west and the huang the north. Although over two millennia old these names and symbolism were given to these objects by much later writers, who interpreted the objects in a way that reflected their own understanding of the cosmos.
The original use of the “Six Ritual Jades” became lost, with such jades becoming status symbols, with utility and religious significance forgotten. The objects came to represent the status of the holder due to the expense and authority needed to command the resources and labour in creating the object. Thus it was as the “Ceremonial Jades” that the forms of some of these jades were perpetuated. The “Zhou Li” states that a king (wang) was entitled to gui of the zhen type, dukes (gong) to the huang, marquis to gui of the xin type, earls (bo) to gui of the gong type, viscounts (zi) to a bi of the gu type and barons (nan) to a bi of the pu type. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_jade, accessed 29 Nov 2025 ↩︎ - Difference between 玉璜 jade huang and 玉珩 jade heng
【辨别方法】(1)玉珩由玉璜演变而来；(2)玉璜是凸面向下，凹面向上；而玉珩则是凸面向上，凹面向下；上面的纹饰也一样；(3)玉璜两头有孔，穿上丝线后，凹面自然向上；而玉珩则是脊背有孔，两头可能有孔，也可能无孔，穿上丝线后，凸面自然向上。https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20231206A00VPT00, accessed 29 Nov 2025 ↩︎ - “晋侯夫人组玉佩——禁止出国（境）展览文物“, 李来玉, 2015-05-12, 中国考古网.
西周时期， 1992年山西曲沃M63墓（晋穆侯次夫人墓）出土，现藏山西博物院。复原长度约158厘米。由玉璜、玉珩、冲牙、玉管、绿松石珠、玛瑙管等组成，共有204件。大致有三列，中列有玉璜19件、玉珩3件、玉雁2件，左右两列各有玉璜13件，冲牙1件，上部由玉管、玉珠、玛瑙串联。玉璜、玉珩装饰姿态各异的双龙纹、双首鸟纹、人龙合体纹，其中，人首侧视，大眼阔嘴，圆鼻巨耳，腮下有须，前肢伸出利爪。组玉佩的下端是两件玉雁，昂首展翅，生动活泼。http://kaogu.cssn.cn/zwb/kgyd/kgbk/201505/t20150512_3933530.shtml, accessed 29 Nov 2025 ↩︎ - Pan, P. Jade pendant set wearing in China’s Zhou and Han dynasties: concepts, practices, and sensorial experiences. asian archaeol (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41826-025-00115-0, accessed 29 Nov 2025 ↩︎
- 听己佩鸣，使玉声与行步相中适。——《礼记·玉藻》 ↩︎
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huang_(jade), accessed 29 Nov 2025 ↩︎
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_jade, accessed 29 Nov 2025 ↩︎
- 说文解字记载“玉，石之美者有五德。润泽以温，仁之方也；䚡理自外，可以知中，义之方也;其声舒扬，专以远闻，智之方也；不挠而折，勇之方也；锐廉而不忮，洁之方也。”孔子曰：“君子比德于玉”。君子无故玉不去身，玉有五德，润泽以温是谓仁，廉而不刿是谓义，垂而坠不飞扬是谓礼，缜密坚实是谓智，质地明晰是谓信。” 子贡问于孔子曰：“敢问君子贵玉而贱玟者何也？为玉之寡而玟之多与？”孔子曰：“非为玟之多故贱之也、玉之寡故贵之也。夫昔者君子比德于玉焉：温润而泽，仁也；缜密以栗，知也；廉而不刿，义也；垂之如队，礼也；叩之其声清越以长，其终诎然，乐也；瑕不掩瑜、瑜不掩瑕，忠也；孚尹旁达，信也；气如白虹，天也；精神见于山川，地也；圭璋特达，德也。天下莫不贵者，道也。《诗》云：‘言念君子，温其如玉。’故君子贵之也。” ↩︎
- 晋国“玉组佩”：精美之玉谁人“佩”, 秦爽, 2018年05月06日 07:06, 经济日报-中国经济网 – “晋侯63号墓在晋侯墓地中是一个特殊的存在，不仅仅因为其陪葬品规模的宏大，从墓葬形制来看，它打破了晋侯墓地“一侯一夫人并穴合葬”的墓葬组合，与晋侯62号墓、晋侯64号墓组成“一侯二夫人”的墓葬组合。” http://www.ce.cn/xwzx/gnsz/gdxw/201805/06/t20180506_29039444.shtml, accessed 29 Nov 2025 ↩︎
- 西周时期， 1992年山西曲沃M63墓（晋穆侯次夫人墓）出土，现藏山西博物院。复原长度约158厘米。由玉璜、玉珩、冲牙、玉管、绿松石珠、玛瑙管等组成，共有204件。大致有三列，中列有玉璜19件、玉珩3件、玉雁2件，左右两列各有玉璜13件，冲牙1件，上部由玉管、玉珠、玛瑙串联。玉璜、玉珩装饰姿态各异的双龙纹、双首鸟纹、人龙合体纹，其中，人首侧视，大眼阔嘴，圆鼻巨耳，腮下有须，前肢伸出利爪。组玉佩的下端是两件玉雁，昂首展翅，生动活泼。museum information card, Oct 2025 ↩︎
- 晋国“玉组佩”：精美之玉谁人“佩”, 秦爽, 2018年05月06日 07:06, 经济日报-中国经济网 – “其下端各有一对玉雁和一对玉蚕，造型栩栩如生，为玉组佩增添了生机趣味，大概也是主人对破茧重生的向往。” http://www.ce.cn/xwzx/gnsz/gdxw/201805/06/t20180506_29039444.shtml, accessed 29 Nov 2025 ↩︎
- Jade Funerary Mask 缀玉覆面
Jadeite | Western Zhou (11th century BC – 771 BC) | Excavated from Tomb 63 at the cemetery of Marquis of Jin at Beizhao vilage, Quwo County, Shanxi Province | Shanxi Museum collection. 玉器｜西周（公元前11世纪 一前771年）｜山西省曲沃县北赵村晋侯墓地63号墓出土 ｜ 山西博物馆藏
鼻长8.5厘米，宽3.3厘米，厚0.4厘米
由48件形制各异的玉片组成。玉片有孔可缝缀于布帛上以覆面。脸部轮廓由一周梯形玉片组成；两片墨绿色委角方形玉饰为眼；圭形玉饰为鼻，下端弯曲以示鼻孔；两个半圆玉片拼合成嘴；额、眉、颊、腮均以式样不一的玉片呈现。除梯形玉片外，其余玉片皆有纹饰
Museum information card, Oct 2025 ↩︎ - Jade Deer 玉鹿
Jadeite | Western Zhou (11th century BC – 771 BC) | Excavated from Tomb 63 at the cemetery of Marquis of Jin at Beizhao vilage, Quwo County, Shanxi Province | Shanxi Museum collection. 玉器｜西周（公元前11世纪 一前771年）｜山西省曲沃县北赵村晋侯墓地63号墓出土 ｜ 山西博物馆藏
长8.3厘米，宽5.9厘米，厚0.3厘米
玉质青黄，褐色沁斑。器身扁平。鹿昂首直颈，头顶树枝状大角，前腿蹬地，后腿弯曲，臀部拱起，生动表现了鹿起跑的瞬间，惟妙惟肖。
Museum information card, Oct 2025 ↩︎ - Jade Man on Horse 玉立人
Jadeite | Shang Dynasty (ca. l6th century -11 th century BC) | Excavated from Tomb 63 at the cemetery of Marquis of Jin at Beizhao vilage, Quwo County, Shanxi Province | Shanxi Museum collection. 玉器｜商（公元前16世纪一前11世纪）｜山西省曲沃县北赵村晋侯墓地63号墓出土 ｜ 山西博物馆藏
青白玉质，圆雕立人。头戴角形冠，耸肩屈臂前倾，双腿弯曲立于底座上，目视前方，神情专注。腰缠玉龙，龙身向后伸展，龙首上昂，龙冠如瓶，龙口大张。有学者认为，可能是用于祭祀活动的法器。
Museum information card, Oct 2025 ↩︎ - Jade Hawk 玉鹰
Jadeite | Shang Dynasty (ca. l6th century -11 th century BC) | Excavated from Tomb 63 at the cemetery of Marquis of Jin at Beizhao vilage, Quwo County, Shanxi Province | Shanxi Museum collection. 玉器｜商（公元前16世纪一前11世纪）｜山西省曲沃县北赵村晋侯墓地63号墓出土 ｜ 山西博物馆藏
青白玉质，局部色沁。圆雕立幽，头顶为曲颈卷尾、张口下吞的龙形冠。鹰作方目、大钩喙、长尖耳，鼓腹、粗腿、双爪撑立，双翼上展，尾羽垂地。颈部饰鳞纹，胸腹饰卷云纹。造型生动，线条流畅纹饰精致。
Museum information card, Oct 2025 ↩︎ - 晋国“玉组佩”：精美之玉谁人“佩”, 秦爽, 2018年05月06日 07:06, 经济日报-中国经济网 – 西周玉组佩没有严格而明确的定制，但是很讲究玉的色泽和形式的对称与和谐，这套大型玉组佩不但制作对称精工，而且色彩柔和淡雅，代表了当时晋国的最高制玉水平。事实上，晋侯63号墓出土随葬品有4280件之多，玉器总量达800多件，比著名的“中国第一女将军”商王武丁的妻子妇好墓中出土的玉器都多，其中玉戈就有12件。在墓葬棺外东北角还发现了一件青铜的方盒子，里面装了各种各样的玉器，最早的可以追溯到商代。http://www.ce.cn/xwzx/gnsz/gdxw/201805/06/t20180506_29039444.shtml, accessed 29 Nov 2025 ↩︎
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