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- analysis of jades of the Six Dynasties period will have to await the excavation of more tombs.
After the Six Dynasties period, China was once more unified, first under the short-lived Sui dynasty (581 -618) and then under the prosperous Tang dynasty (618-906). The Tang dynasty was a time of great accomplishments in the arts Its art is vigorous and robust, both in form and in spirit.
During the Tang, Chinese armies once more expanded China's boundaries into Central Asia and controlled the area where China�s principle source of jade was located. It is very probable that jade was still highly prized in Tang times "but there is a mysterious lack of jade in excavated Tang tombs. The few excavated jade examples include a small number of pendants, hair ornaments, comb backs belt plaques, and clothing ornaments, as well as a large block of uncarved jade from a Tang tomb near Xian.12 These few examples are very inconclusive when trying to gain an overall picture of the style and form of Tang jade objects Other jade pieces definitely dateable to the Tang include a jade bi disc and a casket removed from the foundations of a Buddhist pagoda at Dingxian Hebei and a flute, cup, sword guard, and a magatama of jade found in the imperial�reposi�tory at the Shoso-in in Nara, Japan with a terminus date of 756.13
There could be several factors accounting for the strange absence of jade arti�facts in Tang tombs. It is perhaps because jade objects were reserved for the liv�ing and were too highly prized to be placed in tombs or they might have been looted from the tombs at some time in the past. Another possibility is that since the jade craft had severely declined in the post-Han period, there may have been few people left capable of carrying on the jade carving trade, and as a result the craft never gained the firm footing it had in Han and pre-Han times. Therefore, it is pos�sible that there was not a thriving jade craft at this time. Future excavations of un�looted Tang tombs such as Qian Ling, the tomb of Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu Zetian near Xian, are needed to provide more reliable data for the study of Tang jades.
If jade was actually an extremely popular commodity in the Tang, we would have to resort to stylistic comparisons with works of art in other media, such as stone and ceramic funerary sculptures of the period, to define the style and form of Tang jade. Metalware of the period, a medium receptive to cosmopolitan influ�ences, also provides criteria for comparison.
After the collapse of the Tang in 906, five successive dynasties and ten lesser kingdoms were established, but they only lasted for short periods. This period is known as the Five Dynasties period and would last until the unification of the coun�try by the Song dynasty in 960. The most interesting excavated jades of this period include a book of white jade leaves with engraved and gilded inscriptions, a belt of seven carved jade plaques, a jade disc with a design of phoenixes and a jade seal from the tomb of the King of Shu, Wang Jian (died 918), at Chengdu, and two small jade ornaments and a book of inscribed slabs made of jade-like material exca�vated from the badly looted tombs of two Southern Tang (937-975) emperors near Nanjing.
During the Song dynasty, China was isolated from trade with the West by hostile barbarian dynasties in the north�first the Liao and the Xi Xia, and later the Jin. Therefore, Song China was forced to be more reflective and to look inward upon herself for inspiration. As a result, she was able to create a unique culture of great character and high quality within her own borders. Literature, science, philosophy and religion reached new heights, and the subtle art produced during this period ranks among the world�s greatest achievements. The Song artists carried on the
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