Specification: The outer wing of cicada is 1.7cm long, 0.8cm wide and only 0.2mm thick. Jade leaf is 5.2 cm long, 3.2 cm wide and 0.2 cm thick.
Year: Ming Dynasty
Unearthed address: Unearthed from Wufeng Mountain, Wuxian City, Jiangsu Province
Collection: Cicada in Nanjing Museum is a common artistic form in ancient China. Usually, the modeling tools of cicadas are mainly funerary objects. The ancients believed that people could be reborn like cicadas after death. Golden cicada and jade leaf is a unique weaving method in Ming dynasty. A lifelike golden cicada rests leisurely on a white and flawless jade page, which is glittering and interesting.
This exhibit is a cicada standing on a jade leaf, with beautiful shape and glittering gold. It leans its feet to one side, its wings are slightly open, and its mouth is slightly open, as if playing. There are a pair of cicada wings on the left and right, and the cicada feet are simplified into three pairs, one pair of front feet is inclined and the other pair of rear feet is slightly tilted. The whole cicada body image is vivid. The gold content of golden cicada is 95%. Jade leaves are made of sheep fat white jade from Hotan, Xinjiang, which is crystal clear, moist, warm and delicate. Blade polished thin concave arc, divided into eight petals. There is a main vein with four branches on each side. The veins on the front of the blade are cut into curved grooves, and the veins on the back are cut into convex ribs accordingly, which makes the blade very realistic and the edge of the whole blade round and smooth. The golden cicada adopts die casting, thin leaf extension, carving and welding processes. Jade leaves draw lessons from traditional jade carving techniques such as positive line, negative line and flat convex line, and are finely polished, round and thin, and beautifully carved.