Feb., 1912. Jade. 157 



tion being 5.8 cm in diameter, and is 4-9 mm thick. The wall of the 

 perforation is slanting, as may be recognized in the illustration. The 

 coloring of this jade is very curious; a rhomboid central section is 

 colored dark-green while four segments stand out in a light-brown 

 with greenish tinge. A finger-shaped depression will be observed in the 

 lower part, and there is another on the opposite face; presumably, the 

 object was held during the ceremony by placing the fingers in these 

 grooves. 



The stone of which the disk in Plate XXII, Fig. 1, is carved resembles 

 in appearance the marble of Ta-lifu (in Yun-nan Province) but is indeed 

 jade. The two faces are different in coloring. The one not shown 

 has a white background veined with parallel black streaks in the portion 

 on the right-hand side, a black segment in the upper left corner, and is 

 covered throughout with a veining of russet lines and with patches of 

 the same color. The other face has a yellowish-white background with 

 black patches of curious outlines. In the wall of the perforation there 

 is also a black ring not completely closed. The diameter of this piece 

 measures 20 cm, that of the perforation 5.5 cm, its thckness 1.2 cm. 



This disk (in Plate XXII, Fig. 2) is distinguishedialso by its curious 

 coloring. A black background is covered all over with yellow and 

 greenish patches and veined with red serpentine lines. The diameter 

 of the disk is 21.5 cm, that of the perforation 5.5 cm (which is the 

 same measurement as in the preceding specimen). In general it is 

 1.2 cm thick, but in three places flattened out along the edge and there 

 only 0.5 cm thick. 



It appears from the Huang ch'ao li k'i Vu shift 1 (Ch. 1, p. 1) that the 

 jade disk ts'ang pi is still employed as the image of the deity Heaven 

 in the Temple of Heaven (T'ien fan) in Peking. According to the 

 regulations of the Emperor K'ien-lung, its diameter is fixed at 61V 

 inches, the perforation having a diameter of A inch; it should be 

 some i 7 o inch and more thick. It is not stated what kind of jade is 

 used for the purpose, except that it is called blue (ts'ang). The illus- 

 tration shows a disk covered with a mass of irregular cloud-shaped 

 veins which are apparently in the stone, i. e. a veined stone is chosen 

 for this image. 



Because of their convenient form, these disks pi were utilized for 

 various other purposes, among others, as we read in the Chou li, for the 

 investiture of the feudal lords of the fourth and fifth ranks (p. 86). 

 There are so many varieties of these pi mentioned in the ancient texts 

 that it is difficult, if not impossible, to assign a clear definition to each 

 and every given specimen, and even Wu has resigned here to identifica- 



'See above p. 150. 



