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



girdle are tied, and the symbolism of elaborate knotted bands on an awl 

 of elk-bone used to loosen knots speaks for itself. Among the Tungu- 

 sian tribe of the Gold on the Amur, I found the representation of a 

 dragon surrounded on all sides by interlaced band-ornaments {I. c, 

 p. 40 and Plate XIII, Fig. 1). I wrote at that time: "The band- 

 ornament is so placed around the monster as to suggest that the animal 

 might be bound with ropes ; it is very likely the embodiment of the rain- 

 dragon soaring in the clouds, but hampered by its fetters in pouring 

 out its blessings on the thirsty land." I venture to apply this idea to 

 the design in Fig. 74, which is justified in view of the fact that Chinese 

 and Tungusian art rest on a common historical basis and have influenced 

 each other to a large extent. On this disk pi representing the image of 

 Heaven, an atmospherical phenomenon seems to be represented. The 

 birds in connection with the dragons symbolize clouds, as we see from 

 the Han bas-reliefs on stone (Laufer, Chinese Grave-Sculptures of 

 the Han Period, p. 29). The dragons are fettered by bands, that is 

 to say, they do not send rain, they are in a state of repose. It is the 

 picture of a sky slightly clouded, but serene, over which silver-bright 

 bird-shaped cirri are hovering, encircling dragon-heads in majestic 

 tranquillity. 



In this context also the jade disk in Fig. 75 is interesting. It is 

 decorated with four interlaced bands on a background of cross-hatch- 

 ings. It is a ku pi, the grain-pattern ku being displayed on the lower 

 face. 



We now examine the decorated pi in our collection. 



The disk of white jade represented in Fig. 1 of Plate XXIII shows 

 two dragons of the hydra type (ch'ih) facing each other, carved in high 

 relief and undercut so that they freely stand out from the surface 

 which is smoothly polished. The lower face is decorated with knobs 

 of the same description as in Fig. 2 identical with the "grain" pattern 

 ku, except that they are not laid in concentric circles as there, but run 

 in seventeen vertical rows. The diameter of the disk is 9 cm, that 

 of the perforation 1.5 cm; it is 7 mm thick, 1.3 cm, the relief included. 

 The white spots appearing in the illustration are substances of white 

 clay embedded under the surface of the jade. This piece may have 

 been a badge of rank for the feudal princes of the fourth rank. 



The disk in Fig. 2 of the same Plate (5 cm in diameter, 7 mm thick) 

 is of a peculiar drab-colored jade (light in weight) with a stratum of 

 black in the upper right portion. The ornamentation on the one face 

 consists of three concentric circles of raised dots (9+15 + 20), on the 

 obverse of two circular rows of double spirals, six in the outer and four 

 in the inner row. In all probability, it served also as a badge of rank. 



