PREFACE 



At the close of the year 1907 the Field Museum honored me with 

 the task of carrying on research and making collections in Tibet and 

 China for a period of three years, extending from 1908 to 1910, under 

 an endowment liberally provided by Mrs. T. B. Blackstone of this 

 city. The results of the expedition, accordingly, cover two distinct 

 fields — an ethnological collection bearing on Tibet and neighboring 

 regions, inclusive of an abundance of material relative to Lamaism 

 (paintings, images, masks, objects of the cult), and an extensive collec- 



- tion illustrating the archaeology of China. The latter has been planned 

 in such a way as to afford an insight into the development of all phases 

 of life in China's past. In conformity with the tendency of this Insti- 

 tution, this group of collections is not by any means intended to illustrate 

 the development of art but of culture in China. The results of the 

 work in Tibet are designed to be brought out in six volumes. It has 

 been proposed to work up the Chinese material in a series of monographs, 

 the first instalment of which is the present publication. The mortuary 

 clay figures, the bronze and iron age of China, Buddhist stone sculpture, 

 are the subjects contemplated for the next issues. 



This volume does not pretend to be a contribution to sinology. 

 Its general scope is explained in the Introduction. Written, in the 

 first place, to furnish the necessary information on the jade collection 

 in the Field Museum, it applies to students of archaeology and religion 

 in that it furnishes a great deal of new material and research on the 

 early development of religious and artistic thought in ancient China. 

 All specimens, with the exception of the jade and stone implements 



9. on Plates IX-XIII, and of the jade book on Plate XIV, are in the 



y Field Museum and form part of the Mrs. T. B. Blackstone collection. 

 The lack of Chinese types is met by two expediencies. In all 



j a illustrations derived from Chinese books, the Chinese titles accompany- 

 ing them have been reproduced in facsimile, so that the Chinese designa- 

 tions for the various types of jade will be easily recognized. Wherever 



v. necessary, in using Chinese words romanized, references are made in 

 parenthesis to the number of the particular character in Giles's Chinese - 



gf English Dictionary, which is on the desk of every student in this field. 

 ij The second revised and enlarged edition, as far as it has appeared 



•°i (four fascicules), is quoted throughout; for the remainder the first 

 edition is referred to. Professor Giles deserves hearty congratulation 



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