Feb., 1912. Jade. 159 



by the design of "rushes" on the jade token of the feudal princes of the 

 fifth rank. This case is very instructive from another viewpoint in 

 showing how apt the Chinese themselves are in misunderstanding the 

 brief style of their ancient texts; and not only that, but also in basing 

 artistic designs on such misunderstandings. They jumped at the 

 conclusion that the pattern merely styled " rushes" was a living real 

 plant design, and delineated four live rushes on the drawings of these 



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pgcpSKY/ \V>OOOCt<, 



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Fig. 72. 

 Jade Disk with Basketry Design, p'u pi. 



jade emblems (Fig. 19). *But the "rush pattern" was so named 

 because it was patterned after a basket of plaited rush- work. Wu 

 illustrates another p'u pi displaying two hydras on the upper face and 

 the basketry design on the lower face. 



Why was this design applied to the jade image of Heaven? A kind 

 of rush called shen p'u is mentioned in the Chou It among the vegetable 

 dishes presented to the Son of Heaven, being one of the five salted prepa- 

 rations; this rush was plucked when it began to sprout in the water 

 (Bretschneider, Botanicon Sinicum, Part II, No. 375). The Li ki 

 (ed. Couvreur, Vol. II, p. 449) compares a prosperous administration 

 with the rapid growth of rushes and reeds, and this may account for 



