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



the employment of the ornament on the disks bestowed on the feudal 

 lords of the fifth rank. On the other hand, rush baskets were used in 

 ancient times to hold offerings for sacrifices 1 (e. g. Chavannes, Se-ma 

 Ts'ien, Vol. Ill, p. 617), so that the rush-basket design on the image of 

 Heaven may have well illustrated a sacrificial offering to the Deity. 



Fig. 73a. 

 Jade Disk, pi. Upper Face. 



Figure 73, derived from Wu, belongs to those pi which cannot be 

 properly determined now as to their mode of use. Wu explains the 

 one face (a) as a dragon pattern, the other (b) as a tiger design. The 

 genuine ancient traditions regarding the significance of these ornaments 

 are lost; the minds of the modern Chinese are turned towards another 

 sphere of ornaments of different style and a different psychical basis. 

 Wu's explanation is no more than a modern reflection. In the upper 

 portion of a we observe a conventionalized bird's head, and for the 



1 Several types of bamboo baskets are among the objects still used in the Con- 

 fucian cult and in the imperial worship of the cosmic powers. 



