Early China 23 – 24 1998 – 99

Sophia-Karin Psarras 漁聖愛 Shared Imagery: Eastern Zhou Decors and Iconographies 圖象的共通性: 東周的器物紋樣與圖象體系 Recent studies in Chinese archaeological analysis have tended to focus on the characteristics that set one region of China apart from others. While such a development allows for a more complex view of Chinese history, it obscures identification of unifying traits. In terms of material culture alone, interregional similarities are as revealing as regional distinctions. Examination of specific patterns of vessel ornamentation as well as specific vessel forms from the northern and southern Chinese states reveals extensive sharing, particularly of decors, between the two regions. Indeed, examples of identical decors extends to iconographies incorporating supra-human figures generally identified with the southern state of Chu. These iconographies, derived from the Near Eastern animal master, appear in both northern and southern China in different guises. The manner in which these iconographies are rendered and the position they occupy culturally distinguish north from south more effectively than do any differences in object form and decor. In other words, northern and southern China are closely bound by the Chinese vocabulary of object form and ornamentation, but distinguish themselves in their reactions to foreign influence. 近來中國考古學的分析多偏重於顯示各地區彼此間的差異性。這 類的發展固然有利於瞭解中國歷史的複雜性,但對其共通特徵的辨 識則多有忽略。單就物質文化而言,各地區間的相似性與差異性同 樣能顯示這些地區的個別特性以及彼此間的相關性。由檢視中國北 方與南方器物的裝飾紋樣及器型可知,此二地區,尤其是在裝飾紋 樣設計上,具有高度的共通性。這些共通的裝飾紋樣延伸成圖象體 系,體系中並包含一般認為屬於楚文化的神人像。這些源自近東地 區馴獸人像的圖象體系在中國北方與南方均可見,但是各自以不同 的相貌出現。這些圖象系統的表現方式與它們出現的位置,較器型 及裝飾紋樣的異同更能有效地用來區分中國南北方文化。換句話 說,中國的南、北方以其在器型與裝飾上屬於中國的共通語彙相互 緊密結合,但以其對外來影響的不同反應相互區分。