INSIGHTS FROM THE MANDARIN DUCK LACQUER BOX OF MARQUIS YI OF ZENG FOR CONTEMPORARY JEWELRY DESIGN

บทคัดย่อ

This research article aims to: 1) examine how the Mandarin Duck lacquer box from the Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng operates as a compact ritual image–object system in which form, structure, surface order, and narrative imagery function together; 2) develop a replicable translation pathway that converts tomb artifact evidence into contemporary jewelry design knowledge; and 3) construct evaluation criteria that ensure cultural readability, structural coherence, and ethical distance from direct copying. The study adopts a qualitative, theory-driven research design. Data were collected from archaeological reports, museum documentation, and scientific analyses of Warring States lacquerware, and were analyzed through formal-structural decomposition, semantic mapping, and pathway construction.

The research results found that:

1. The Mandarin Duck lacquer box functions as an integrated micro-system whose silhouette hierarchy, join logic, border discipline, narrative framing, and color contrast structure provide transferable principles for contemporary jewelry design.


2. A six-step translation pathway—evidence anchoring, wearable-scale decomposition, semantic control, surface-principle mapping, composition-rule setting, and evaluation—can systematically convert heritage artifacts into structured design knowledge.


3. The proposed evaluation rubric (cultural readability, hierarchy clarity, structural coherence, and ethical distance) helps prevent superficial motif borrowing and supports defensible heritage translation.