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Warrior with Helmet

 Statue of fierce warrior with demonic helmet 
  • Mottled light green jade with black and red veins.
  • Carved in high relief  with great dexterity.
  • Helmet is a marvel of workmanship
    • 3 rope like horns spiral out from top and side
    • detached rings slide freely
    • 'face' of helmet has fine detail - especially the teeth and fangs
  • Lower robe of warrior decorated with beast face in very high relief complete with fangs and teeth.
  • Arms of the warrior hang slackly - oddly not ferocious.
  • Behind the head/helmet is a shield, which has a chilung baby dragon on back side in high relief.
  • Back of lower robe has another auspicious chilung.
  • Upper area of robe has a raised line square spiral design - typical Zhou decoration.
  • Front vest and sleeves are decorated with 'C' scrolls and 'V' scrolls - another typical Zhou embellishment. 
  • 16.8 x 3.95 x 3.73 cm. 
The age and even subject matter here are very uncertain to me. The triangular shape of the head, the delicately worked beast face, and the projecting horns
all suggest to me the helmet of a fierce warrior. The mouth and fangs, though, aren't part of the helnet, and they don't look human. Also, what are we to make of the
shield behind the head and the decorations on the front and back of the garmet he is wearing. Certainly we don't have a literal picture of a warrior or guard.
So, it's unclear whether it is a fierce human warrior, or a demonic beast in a human pose.
 
I conjecture that it is an iconic or idealized warrior that enjoys the strength of a demon and the favor of
the chilungs. The accretion of these favorable symbols creates an idealized, bad-assed, possessed fighter - just the
kind you would want in your service.
 
(ps. I am thinking here of medieval iconic art - where heroic and saintly attributes were rendered as nimbuses and
similar visual aids to comtemplation). 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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