Feb., iqi2. 



Jade. 



4i 



runs across a band filled with parallel oblique lines. Five bands, each 

 consisting of four deeply grooved lines, are laid out in the opposite 

 direction on the other 

 side of the eye. The 

 same ornaments are ex- 

 ecuted on both faces. 

 It is evident that this 

 elaborate and costly 

 production was never 

 destined for any prac- 

 tical purpose, but that 

 it served either in some 

 religious ceremony, or 

 as an emblem of power, 

 perhaps of sovereignty 

 (compare Ch. II). 



Ceremonial jade 

 axes were still turned 

 out at the time of the 

 earlier Han dynasty, as 

 we may safely infer 

 from a report in the Ku 

 yii t'u p'u (Ch. 28, pp. 

 6, 8), saying that in the 

 period Shun-hua of the 

 Sung dynasty (990-995 a. d.) a certain man opened the tomb of Huai- 

 nan Wang 1 of the Han dynasty from which he obtained precious jades, 

 and among these two jade axe-heads: "hence it is known," the author 

 adds, "that they are objects from the beginning of the Han period." 

 The two pieces are alike in shape and design, formed in what the 

 Chinese call a "rolled or coiled-up cloud" (k'iiian yiin), i. e. the edge 

 terminates on both ends in a convolute spiral ; the blade has three round 

 perforations arranged in a vertical row as in the corresponding bronze 

 types after which these pieces were evidently modeled. There is a socket 

 at the lower end for the reception of a handle (Fig. 1). 



Jade axes {yii tsi) 2 in connection with red-colored shields were used 

 in the hands of dancers performing the dance Ta wu in the ancestral 



1 Title of the Taoist adept Liu Ngan, second century B. c. 



* They are not "jade-adorned axes," as Legge (Li Ki, Vol. II, p. 33) translates, 

 or "hacheorn£e de jade" (Couvreur, Vol. I, p. 731) which, first of all, is not justi- 

 fied by the two simple Chinese words meaning only "jade axe," and secondly, 

 what is and means an axe adorned with jade? No such thing exists or has ever 

 existed, but there are jade axes made exclusively of jade (except the wooden handle) 

 which it is doubtless easier to make than to adorn, e. g. a bronze axe with jade. 



Fig. i. 

 Ancient Jade Axe (from Ku yii t'u p'u). 



