Feb., 1912. Jade. 161 



rest a conglomeration of geometric designs of spirals, small circles, 

 triangles and lozenges, a composition of distorted elements which may 

 have suggested an animal's body to a primitive mind. Compare a 

 similar style in Fig. 83 (p. 178) and Fig. 92 (p. 187). 



While the design on the upper face (Fig. 73 a) is characterized by 



Fig. 73b. 

 Jade Disk, pi. Lower Face. 



asymmetry and a studied irregularity, that on the lower face (b) is 

 striking for the very rigidity and symmetry of geometrical arrange- 

 ment. The circular zone is divided into eight equal compartments * 

 filled with exactly the same designs. Two and two of these belong 

 together as may be ascertained from the presence, of two eyes, *two 

 nostrils and two curved bands apparently forming a mouth. But 

 what these four heads were to be in the minds of the ancient designers 



^rom a comparison with the diagram given in Mayers's Chinese Reader's 

 Manual, p. 346, it appears that the arrangement is identical with that of the nine 

 (counting the center as one) divisions of the celestial sphere {kiu t'ien), and this may 

 be intentional on this disk representing Heaven. 



