Agate hairpin

Agate is relatively rare in burials of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods and seems to appear in a select group of objects. This rather odd shaped object is an example of one type of implement that seems to have been almost exclusively from this medium. Comparable to this piece is a pair from the late Spring and Autumn period tombs at Taiyuan in Shanxi province. Similar pieces have been found in Shandong. They are described as dragon-shaped ornaments, with the small protrusion along the bottom of the piece serving as the dragon's leg.

The suspension hole drilled in the center of these pieces would indicate that they served as part of a pendant. They have been found in coffins near the skeleton, most often close to the legs or even the feet of the deceased, suggesting that they were suspended low on the body.

Similar to jade, agate is a hard stone that cannot be easily carved; however, it does not have jade's fibrous structure and is actually quite brittle and often filled with veins or flaws. Thus it is quite difficult to create any detail on the surface of an agate object. The examples found in Chinese tombs of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods are often relatively simple shapes with high polishes, little if any surface decoration and sharply defined edges.

Agate is much more translucent than jade, and that is certainly the case with this piece which approaches transparency. The stone has a very slight brown tinge with fine cloud-like areas dispersed throughout.

1. Fung, p. 180
2. Zhongguo Yuqi Chuanji, vol 3, p. 28, plate 44
3. Kaogu, 1964, no. 2, p. 135, no. 10
4. Kaogu Xue Bao, 1993, no. 1, plate 7, fig 8
5. Kaogu Xue Bao, 1977, no. 1, p. 95
6. Wen Wu, 1986, no. 6, p. 23, no. 15