Item number: X63

Year: AD 1644-1949

Material: Silver

Size: 31.6 x 26.1 mm

Weight: 23.96 g

Provenance: Guang Ya Zhai 2008

This object is a silver archer’s thumb ring, historically referred to as a she, which served as an implement to protect the digit when drawing a bowstring, worn specifically on the thumb of the string-drawing hand.

The morphology of this thumb ring conforms to the cylindrical profile that emerged exclusively during the Qing dynasty, distinguishing itself from Han-style thumb rings. The exterior is completely covered with raised dragon and cloud motifs, with a forged seam discernible along one side. The interior remains plain and unadorned, bearing a merchant mark or workshop hallmark that reads Juhua. Given that the high-relief surface ornamentation extends beyond the planes of both rims, any practical employment of the object would have obstructed the release trajectory of the bowstring; hence, it can be inferred that this thumb ring was intended purely as a decorative or ornamental piece.

During the late Qing dynasty and the early Republican period, silver workshops operating under the name Juhua were recorded across various regions, including Xiamen in Fujian, Dinggou in Jiangsu, Tongcheng in Anhui, Quwo in Shanxi, Shenyang in Liaoning, Tianjin, Hankou in Hubei, Zhijiang in Hunan, and Tongren as well as Zhenyuan in Guizhou. Extant silver artefacts originating from workshops in Dinggou (Jiangsu), Shenyang (Liaoning), and Tianjin survive to this day; however, the hallmarks stamped upon those pieces deviate from the mark found on this specific silver thumb ring. Consequently, those locations can be excluded as the place of manufacture, and the precise provenance of this artefact remains a subject for further investigation.

Owing to their substantial weight, which compromised practical utility, metallic thumb rings are relatively scarce in the archaeological and historical record, whereas the vast majority of such implements were fabricated from materials such as ivory, horn, leather, or jade. The earliest textual documentation concerning silver thumb rings appears in the 1747 AD edition of the Xining Fu Xin Zhi (New Chronicles of Xining Prefecture), which notes that Tibetan craftsmen in Qinghai manufactured silver thumb rings as trade commodities.

In antiquity, the act of releasing a bowstring was termed jue; by extension, the auxiliary thumb rings used for drawing the string were also designated as jue, or alternatively, she. The earliest putative metallic she may have originated from the early Shang dynasty burial sites at the Xibeigang archaeological site in Henan. Although these are cast bronze she, their classification remains contested due to an exceptionally small inner circumference. The most universally acknowledged archetype, however, is the jade she excavated from the late Shang dynasty Tomb of Fu Hao. From the Shang through the Ming dynasties, Han-style thumb rings consistently maintained a specific morphology characterized by one flat, level rim and an opposing rim that was unevenly sloped, featuring one elevated side and one lower side. Following the Han dynasty, the she presumably remained in continuous practical use, yet it ceased to function as a decorative dress accessory, which accounts for its rarity in both funerary contexts and historical literature. This status persisted until the Qing dynasty, when the design of the thumb ring adopted the forms of Mongolian horn and leather variants, manifesting as a uniform cylindrical tube with two parallel, even rims. It was not until the reign of the Qianlong Emperor that the thumb ring, elevated as a symbol to promote the martial spirit and equestrian archery traditions of the Manchu people, experienced a significant resurgence in popularity.

物件編號: X63

年代: 公元 1644-1949 年

材料: 銀

尺寸: 31.6 x 26.1 mm

重量: 23.96 g

來源: 廣雅齋 2008

這是一枚銀扳指，古稱「韘」，又稱「搬指」、「班指」等，為拉張弓弦時保護手指的工具，佩於持弦手的拇指。

扳指形制為清代始有的圓筒狀，有別於漢式扳指。外側是龍紋與雲紋滿布的表面，其中一側有鍛接的縫隙。內側光素，有一「聚華」的商號款式標記。由於表面浮雕紋飾高於兩端，強行使用會干擾弓弦彈射的軌跡，可知此扳指為純粹的飾品。

清末民初，福建廈門、江蘇丁溝、安徽桐城、山西曲沃、遼寧瀋陽、天津、湖北漢口、湖南芷江、貴州銅仁、貴州鎮遠均有以「聚華」為名的銀樓，其中江蘇丁溝、遼寧瀋陽、天津等有文物存世，其上款式與此銀扳指均有出入，應非製作者，具體出處則待考。

由於重量較重不利實用，金屬質的扳指較為少見，而以牙、角、皮革或玉石等材質為大宗。最早銀製扳指的書面紀錄來自(乾隆十二年)公元1747年的《西寧府新志》，言青海的藏族匠人製作銀扳指作為商品。

古稱扣弦為「决」，因此也稱輔助扣弦的扳指為「决」，又稱為「韘」。最早的韘可能出自商代前期的河南西北岡墓葬遺址，為青銅韘，但因戒圍過小，仍有疑義。公認則以商代婦好墓發掘的玉韘最為典型。自商至明，漢式扳指均為一端齊平，一端一側高一側低的形制。漢代以後，韘大概一直都有使用，但不作為飾品，因此少見於墓葬及紀載之中。至清代，扳指形制承襲蒙古的角韘與革韘，呈兩端齊平的圓筒狀。至乾隆朝，以扳指為象徵，推崇滿族尚武騎射的精神，扳指才得以重新流行。