84 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. X. 



design, but "grains" (ku) was merely the name of a geometric orna- 

 ment consisting of rows of small raised dots or knobs which from a 

 supposed resemblance to grains received this name. It occurs also 

 on sacrificial bronze bowls of the Chou period, one of which is in our 

 collection. 



The tablets called chang (Giles No. 400) will be discussed below in 

 connection with the actual specimens (p. 100). 



When the sovereign received the feudal lords in audience, he availed 

 himself of a jade tablet called "cap" (mao kuei, Biot, Vol. II, p. 520). 

 It is described by the commentaries as a sort of cube of jade, each side 

 being four inches in length, an arch-shaped section being cut out on 

 the lower face, in order to indicate "that the emperor's virtue can cover 

 and protect the empire." The feudal lords were supposed to hold 

 their jade insignia of rank in their hands, while the sovereign placed 

 the mao over them ("capped" them) to ascertain whether they were 

 genuine. It is mentioned as early as in the Shu king (Ku ming 23, ed. 

 Couvreur, p. 356). 



The feudal prince of the first rank (kung) 1 is invested with the jade 

 tablet called huan kuei "pillar tablet" of a prescribed length of nine 

 inches. The traditional representations figure it either as a pointed 

 kuei with two vertical lines inside running parallel with the lateral 

 sides, or with a top consisting of a horizontal line with two adjoining 

 slanting lines, as may be seen in Fig. 15. 2 The commentary adds that 

 the feudal lords of the first rank are the great councillors of the emperor 

 and the descendants of the two first sovereigns; the two "pillars" are 

 emblematic of the palace and support it, as the princes support the 

 emperor. 



The feudal prince of the second rank (hou) is distinguished by the 

 jade tablet sin kuei, seven inches long. Figure 16 shows the traditional 

 representation of it, with flat top, while again in the illustrations to the 

 Chou li a pointed roof -shaped top appears. But it is noteworthy that 

 in both cases the tablet is unornamented, so that also the K'ien-lung 

 editors had lost confidence in the artificial picture given in the San li 

 Vu and identical with that of Couvreur to be mentioned presently. 

 The word sin "faith" should be read here shen "body," explain the 



x The five degrees of feudal rank (wu kio) alleged to have been instituted by the 

 mythical emperors Yao and Shun are called kung, hou, po, tse, nan, commonly ren- 

 dered into English as duke, marquis, earl, viscount, baron (W. F. Mayers, Chinese 

 Reader's Manual, p. 320) ; but as our own political institutions fundamentally differ 

 from those of the Chinese, such translations are misleading, and I therefore prefer 

 to adhere to the plain terminology introduced by Biot: prince or feudal prince of 

 first, second, etc. rank. 



2 Derived from the Palace edition of the Li ki (1748); in the illustrations of the 

 same edition to the Chou li, the same tablet is represented with a pointed top. 



