Metamorphic Imagery in Ancient Chinese Art and Religion

Metamorphic Imagery in Ancient Chinese Art and Religion demonstrates that the concept of metamorphism was central to ancient Chinese religious belief and practices from at least the late Neolithic period through the Warring States Period of the Zhou dynasty.

Central to the authors’ argument is the ubiquitous motif in early Chinese figurative art, the metamorphic power mask. While the motif underwent stylistic variation over time, its formal properties remained stable, underscoring the image’s ongoing religious centrality. It symbolized the metamorphosis, through the phenomenon of death, of royal personages from living humans to deceased ancestors who required worship and sacrificial offerings. Treated with deference and respect, the royal ancestors lent support to their living descendants, ratifying and upholding their rule; neglected, they became dangerous, even malevolent. Employing a multidisciplinary approach that integrates archaeologically recovered objects with literary evidence from oracle bone and bronze inscriptions to canonical texts, all situated in the appropriate historical context, the study presents detailed analyses of form and style, and of change over time, observing the importance of relationality and the dynamic between imagery, materials, and affects.

This book is a significant publication in the field of early China studies, presenting an integrated conception of ancient art and religion that surpasses any other work now available.

Elizabeth Childs-Johnson is a specialist in ancient Chinese art, archaeology, paleography, and religion. Her research focuses on a comprehensive interdisciplinary approach to identifying belief systems in early China, specifically covering late Neolithic Jade Age through the Bronze Age, ca. 3500-3rd century BCE. She currently holds the position of Research Professor at the Institute of Asian Studies, Old Dominion University.

John S. Major taught at Dartmouth from 1971 to 1984, and since then has been an independent scholar based in New York. A leading authority on ancient Chinese religion and cosmology, he is also a highly regarded translator of classical texts. Much of his work, like the present volume, has been collaborative.