Feb., 191 2. Jade. 169 



3. Jade Images of the North, East and South 



We saw from the Chou li that the quarter of the North is worshipped 

 under a jade symbol called huang, and that the same object is buried 

 with the dead, being placed at the feet of the corpse. The commenta- 

 tors to the Chou li explain that the shape of the huang was half of the 

 perforated disk pi, and that it symbolized the winter and the storage 

 of provisions 1 when vegetation has ceased on earth and only half of 

 Heaven is visible. The latter expression is explained by the saying 

 that the constellations are the ornament of Heaven, the plants the 

 ornament of earth, that in the winter when the plants have withered 

 away, only the constellations remain in Heaven, and that hence the 

 saying arose that only half of Heaven is visible. From the Li ki (ed. 

 Couvreur, Vol. I, p. 545) we learn that in the same way as the tiger- 

 shaped jades hu, also the jade huang was presented by the emperor 

 to a prince jointly with a wine-cup. 



The ta huang, i. e. the large huang, a special kind of this jade orna- 

 ment in the shape of a semicircle and coming down from the Hia dy- 

 nasty, 2 was in the ancestral temple of Chou-kung in Lu, and otherwise 

 an object due only to the emperor {Li ki, Ming fang wei, 24; ed. 

 Couvreur, Vol. I, p. 738). Wu Ta-ch'eng has identified one specimen 

 in his collection (Fig. 76) with this large huang mentioned in the Li ki, 

 though he does not give any special reasons for so doing. He points 

 out the great rarity of this type and emphasizes that it is not identical 

 with the top-piece of the ancient girdle-pendant, designated by the 

 same word huang, of which we shall deal in a subsequent chapter. 



The huang in Fig. 77, derived also from Wu, is of white jade with 

 red speckles. "In its shape," remarks the author, "it differs from the 

 large huang; it has two perforations in one end and one in the other, 

 but I do not know how it was used; in view of its dimensions, it cannot 

 certainly have been a girdle ornament." I believe that pieces like this 

 one were employed for burial purposes as indicated by the Chou li. 



The carving in Fig. 78 of white jade with "a yellow mist" is in the 

 shape of a fish engraved alike on both faces. There is an oval perfora- 

 tion in the middle, and there is one in the head of the fish indicating 

 its mouth and another in the tail. In its make-up, says Wu, it is of 

 antique elegance, and there is no doubt that it is a jade of the Chou 

 time. To explain the design of the fish in this huang, Wu refers to the 



'Compare the Hymn to the Winter in the Ts'ien Han shu (Chavannes; Se-ma 

 Ts'ien, Vol. Ill, p. 616). 



'This is an addition of the commentary. Wu cites also the Ch'un Ts'iu to the 

 effect that the Duke of Lu was in possession of the ta huang of the Hia dynasty. 



