Introduction. 27 



savs of his countenance that it is always the same as jade. 1 But like 

 every substance in nature, jade is subject to discoloration and decom- 

 position. This effect is noticeable particularly in the ancient burial 

 pieces of the Chou and Han dynasties which have sometimes under- 

 gone considerable changes during their subterranean history in the 

 grave, and softened to such a degree that they may be mistaken for 

 steatite. 



"The Chinese are perfectly familiar with the disintegration of the 

 surface and the gradual softening and decomposition of the material 

 which occur in jade long buried in the ground. Jade in its crudest 

 state always contains a greater or less proportion of iron, and this, 

 gradually becoming oxidized by process of time, causes staining of the 

 surface, the color of the stain often extending inward, especially where 

 there happens to be any flaw or vein in the material. All kinds of 

 variegated 'iron-rust' tints are produced in this way, passing from 

 amber-yellow to the deepest brown, and sometimes becoming almost 

 black" (Bishop, Vol. I, p. 232). 



A peculiar characteristic of the white jades of the Han period is 

 that sometimes thick masses of chalk-white clayish matter permeate 

 the jade substance. The Chinese call them "earth spots" (t'u pan) 

 and attribute their presence to mercury absorbed by the stone while 

 buried. It is impossible to accept this view, as the clay is embodied 

 under the polished surface and must have been present there, before 

 the piece in question was worked and polished. But apparently, 

 these stones were intentionally cut in such a way that the clay became 

 visible through the transparent surface. It seems to me that the Han 

 people may have evinced a particular predilection for this natural 

 phenomenon which usually occurs in ornamental pieces. 



The character of the following research is such that one investigation 

 is based on the other, and that the single chapters are mutually de- 

 pendent. Chapter II cannot be understood without the knowledge 

 of the first chapter, and the fundamental religious ideas expounded in 

 Chapter V have their basis in the discussions of Chapter II. Again, 

 Chapter VIII cannot be appreciated without an insight into the com- 

 plex subjects of the preceding chapter, as, naturally, the ornaments 

 of the dead are an echo of those of the living ones. In the culture of 

 the Chou, to which a great and indeed the principal part of this material 



1 Legge (Li Ki, Vol. II, p. 26) translates: "His complexion showed (the beauty 

 and strength of) a piece of jade," which is apparently not to the point; the tertium 

 comparationis is the unchangeability of the color of jade which is likened to the firm 

 and steady expression of the soldier's face (compare Couvreur, Li Ki, Vol. I, 

 p. 722). 



