Feb., 1912. Jade. 91 



Wu Ta-ch'eng figures three further specimens of a similar type 

 (Figs. 21-23), also designated as chen kuei, but in the latter cases, this 

 identification seems rather doubtful and somewhat hazarded, for the 

 chief characteristics of the former implement are lacking here. None 

 of these objects is provided with the large central perforation, but they 

 have only small holes drilled through the base near the edge, and these 

 could have been utilized for no other purpose than for the passage of a 

 cord. One of them, reproduced in Fig. 22, has on its lower side two 

 pairs of shallow cavities communicating through a passage below the 

 surface, so that a wire or a thread could be drawn through. The same 

 piece entirely lacks the chamfered hammer-head-like portion which is 

 rather weakly developed in Fig. 21; if there it is not due to a mere 

 accidental cause, as the two rounded notches would seem to indicate, 

 while it is plainly brought out with manifest intention in Fig. 23. 

 Whereas it is apparent that these three pieces belong to the type of 

 kuei, they cannot be traced back to that of the chtn kuei. Wu evinces 

 a feeling of a similar kind, because also their measures deviate from the 

 standard type of twelve inches. The piece in Fig. 21 is described as 

 being of dark-green jade, that in Fig. 22 of the same color mixed with 

 black spots, and that in Fig. 23 as uniformly red. 



The jade object x in Fig. 24 is identified by Wu with the la kuei or 

 great tablet which, according to the Chou li, was carried by the emperor 

 in his girdle (Biot, Vol. I, p. 484). We have alluded above to the other 

 passage which says that this instrument was to be three feet long, 

 made sloping above so as to form a hammer's head. But the specimen 

 in question is only one foot nine inches long. Wu conjectures that the 

 datum of three feet in the Chou li may be a mistake for two feet. Such 

 an error may have, of course, crept into the text, but the attempted 

 amendment will never rise above the degree of a conjecture. In its 

 favor it might be said that three feet seems to represent a considerable 

 length for an object to be placed in the girdle, and that one only two 

 feet long would do much nicer in view of this purpose. Whether this 

 specimen may be justly identified with the la kuei or not, it loses noth- 

 ing of its great value. It is most interesting in that it shows the four 

 corners chamfered or, according to the Chinese idea, hammer-shaped; 

 that is to say, in this specimen, this feature has developed into a mere 

 ornamental form, void of any practical use. The lower end is apparent- 

 ly shaped into a handle, and two hammer-shaped faces are here part 



l It is described under the heading: "It has also the name t'ing; of dark-green 

 jade with black designs under which two figures like a dragon and phenix seem to be 

 hidden [a natural phenomenon in the stone causing this impression]; below the 

 perforation, there is to the extent of three or four inches a zone of yellow color. The 

 illustration is by , s „ smaller than the implement (i. e. half of the original size)." 



