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Pig dragon

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Type of artifact from ancient China

This article is about pig-dragon artifacts (using a different Chinese homonym). For the "Torch Dragon" creature from Chinese mythology, seeZhulong (mythology).

Jade artifact in the form of a pig dragon in theParis National Museum of Asian Arts

Hongshan culture pig dragon jade artifact in theBritish Museum

Apig dragon orzhūlóng (simplified Chinese:玉猪龙;traditional Chinese:玉豬龍)^[1] is a type ofjade artifact from theHongshan culture ofNeolithic China. Pig dragons are zoomorphic forms with a pig-like head and elongated limbless body coiled around to the head and described as "suggestively fetal".^[2] Early pig dragons are thick and stubby, and later examples have more graceful, snakelike bodies.

Pig dragons were produced by theHongshan culture (4700 to 2900 BC). Along with the same culture's jade eagles (玉鷹),^[1] they often featured asgrave goods.^[3] Pig bones have been found interred alongside humans at Hongshan burial sites, suggesting that the animal had some ritual significance.

There is some speculation that the pig dragon is the first representation of theChinese dragon. The character for "dragon" in the earliestChinese writing has a similar coiled form, as do later jade dragon amulets from theShang period.^[4]

References

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^^a ^bKo, Patrick.Federation of Medical Studies of Hong Kong, "The History of Ancient Chinese Jade Culture". Jan 2008.
^Childs-Johnson, Elizabeth (1991). "Jades of the Hongshan culture: the dragon and fertility cult worship".Arts Asiatiques.46:82–95.doi:10.3406/arasi.1991.1303.
^Howard, Angela & al.Chinese Sculpture, pp. 21 f. Yale Univ. Press, 2006.ISBN 0-300-10065-5.
^Salviati, Filippo (2002).The Language of Adornment: Chinese Ornaments of Jade, Crystal, Amber and Glass, Fig. 17. Ten Speed Press.ISBN 1-58008-587-3.