Precious Ancient Chinese Immortality Suits Made Of Jade

A. Sutherland - AncientPages.com - Jade suits were first documented in literature around AD 320, although there is archaeological proof of their existence that dates back thousands of years.

Detail of a jade burial suit with replaced copper wire in the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum in Springfield, Massachusetts. Image credit: Daderot  - CC0

The Chinese people have long considered jade to be foremost among the most valuable treasures that Nature offered humanity.

During the Neolithic Age, stoneworking gradually gave rise to the production of jade articles. At first, jade was used to make ornaments, and later, for making ritual objects used in sacrificial ceremonies.

Ancient texts dated to the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 CE) say that members of the imperial family were buried in jade burial suits.

According to the Book of Later Ha, an ancient document, during Han era, jade burial outfits for the Chinesee emperors were sewed by gold threads, while other royal family members had the jade clothes put together with silver or copper threads.

Detail of the hand section of the jade burial suit of Liu Sui, Prince of Liang, of Western Han. Image credit: Zcm11  - CC BY-SA 3.0

The type of threads used for the preparation of the jade burial suit, depended on the social status of the buried person. People believed jade possessed magical properties to protect the body from decay and ward off evil spirits. Attempts to preserve the body reflect the belief that the earthly aspect of the soul continues to dwell in the body after death.

First, jade materials transported from far-away places were processed into thousands of small jade pieces of specific shapes and sizes.

Secondly, each jade piece was polished and drilled, with the shapes and sizes of the holes undergoing particular scrutiny; thirdly, a lot of specially made gold, silver, or copper threads were used to join the jade pieces.

The jade burial suits of emperors used gold thread; princes, princesses, dukes, and marquises, silver thread; sons or daughters of those given silver thread, copper thread; and lesser aristocrats, silk thread. All others were forbidden to be buried in jade burial suits.

Making a jade burial suit was problematic because its hand-making process was complicated and sophisticated.

Jade burial suit at the Museum of the Mausoleum of the Nanyue King, in Guangzhou. Image credit: Pubuhan - CC BY-SA 2.5

The most beautiful suits are today preserved in Xuzhou, a city little known in the Western world, but during the early Han Dynasty, Xuzhou was one of the most important regions of China.

Liu Sheng's jade suit was made of 2498 pieces of jade, sewn together with 1.1 kilograms of gold thread (Dou Wan's was smaller). Each jade suit had twelve sections: face, head, front, and back of the tunic, arms, gloves, leggings, and feet.

The golden thread and jade clothes of Liu Sui from the tomb of Xishan No. 1 in the Western HanDynasty. The jade clothes were scattered when they were unearthed. After restoration, the length of the jade clothes was 1.76 meters. Image credit: Zcm11 - CC BY-SA 3.0

Experts estimate that a suit such as Liu Sheng's would have taken ten years to fashion. Along with the jade suits, Liu Sheng and Dou Wan each had a gilt bronze headrest inlaid with jade and held jade crescents in their hands.

After the Han Dynasty, the jade burial suit practice was forbidden in 222 and gradually disappeared.

Written by – A. Sutherland  - AncientPages.com Senior Staff Writer

Updated on September 27, 2022

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References:

Kaleidoscope Cultural China

S-K. Psarras,  Han Material Culture

All Things Chinese

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