6 Introduction. 



The most extensive collection of jades in existence is the Heber R. 

 Bishop collection, the greater part of which is now on view in the 

 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The object of this collection 

 is universal and includes specimens of jades from all countries and ages. 

 It is exceedingly rich in magnificent objects of Chinese art, of intrinsic 

 value from an artistic point of view. The collection of Chinese jades 

 which I had the opportunity to make for the Field Museum in Si-ngan 

 fu, Shensi Province, on two occasions in 1909 and 19 10, is chiefly 

 gathered from an archaeological standpoint to illustrate an important 

 phase in the ancient culture-life of China, and represents by no means 

 a duplicate parallel to the Bishop collection, as it includes a great 

 deal of material which does not exist in the latter. Also in the de- 

 partment of eighteenth century jades, there is a marked difference 

 between the Mrs. Blackstone and the Bishop collections, as pointed 

 out here in the concluding chapter. Mr. Bishop's Chinese specimens 

 of jade, I understand, were mostly procured in Peking or Shanghai, 

 where the gorgeous modern art -work prevails. The greater opportu- 

 nity for objects of archaeological interest is afforded in Si-ngan fu, the 

 centre of the old civilization where numerous primitive specimens are 

 exhumed from the graves of the Chou and Han periods, and where the 

 best private jade collections of Chinese connoisseurs exist. I had the 

 good fortune to receive valuable instruction there from an expert 

 scholar who had spent almost a life-time on the study of mortuary 

 jades and other antiquities, and whose extensive collections, partly 

 the fruit of his own excavations, were gradually acquired by me. The 

 interesting jade amulets of the dead, chiefly derived from his collection, 

 are here published for the first time with his explanations, nor have 

 they ever been described before in any Chinese book. None of these 

 types are in the Bishop collection. For this and other reasons, the 

 two are not rival collections, but supplement each other in many 

 respects. 



The description of the Bishop collection appeared in two volumes 

 under the title "Investigations and Studies in Jade," New York, 

 privately printed, 1906. The preface of Heber R. Bishop is dated 

 June, 1902. 1 The collection is stated there to number nine hundred 

 specimens, which are catalogued under the three headings mineralogical, 

 archaeological, and art objects. Nearly two hundred pieces were 

 presented to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Vol. I 

 (277 pages) consists of five parts. Part I contains a general intro- 

 duction with a survey of the nephrite question. Part II, entitled 



1 He died in December of the same year. A sketch of his life and aspirations 

 written by G. F. Kunz will be found in American Anthropologist, 1903, pp. 111-117. 



