Feb., 1912. 



Jade. 



123 



out, thus appearing as positive and negative, or in Chinese as yang 

 and yin (male and female). The jade of this piece, in a good state of 

 preservation, shows only a few small spots possibly caused by chemical 

 action underground, and is of a uniform light-green leaf -color. This is 

 a kind of jade much employed in the Han period, and I have full con- 

 fidence in the report given me that this piece has been unearthed from 

 a grave of that period. It is a miniature model made at that time from 

 the larger specimens of 

 the Chou period as rep- 

 resented in Figs. 1 and 

 2, which goes to show 



that much of the orig- 

 inal symbolism at- 

 tached to them was 

 then lost. In Si-ngan 

 fu where I obtained 

 these three objects, they 

 are called kang t'ou, i. e. 

 wheel-naves of a char- 

 iot, and the people there 





**%* 



Fig. 41. 

 Alleged Jade Wheel-Nave (from Ku yti t'u p'u). 



are unanimous in the 

 opinion that they have 

 been used as mortuary 

 objects in connection 

 with the dead, having 

 been placed on their 

 breast. We shall recog- 

 nize from a study of the 

 ancient texts that this 

 information is correct; 

 but aside from this purpose, these objects served also a most important 

 religious function in worship and symbolized the deity of Earth. 



A type corresponding to our specimen on Plate XV, Fig. 1, is in the 

 Bishop collection (Vol. II, p. 103) and has been defined by Dr. Bushell 

 as "part of a chariot-wheel nave," an explanation furnished to him by 

 the Ku yii t'u p'u, which, however, as will be seen, is erroneous. Dr. 

 Bushell describes the object as being of nephrite, brown and black 

 mottled with russet spots and patches, the seams and fractures being 

 of a dark dead-oak-leaf color, the whole covered with a russet patina. 

 He continues by saying that it is a thick massive object of square 

 section, with' four oblong sides externally, but with the corners trun- 

 cated and reduced so as to leave a thick round lip projected at each 



