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



Figure 82 illustrates a carving of white jade filled all over with clay- 

 matter and dug up in Shensi {Kuan chung ch'u Vu). It is in the shape 

 of a knob displaying a symmetrical tiger's face of geometrical mould 

 on the front, and a pair of feet caived out on the back. It will, of 

 course, be difficult to say in each particular case to what use a given 

 piece was turned, whether it was intended for the cult or as a gift or 



Fig. 81. 

 Jade Tablet, Upper and Lower Faces, with Design of Tiger, used in the Worship of the West. 



as an ornament with a specific meaning which may escape our knowledge. 

 It is not out of the question that in certain localities of China where 

 there was an abundance of tigers the animal was actually worshipped 

 under an image like these, and that these images were used, as rude 

 drawings in modern times, to ward off evil demons (compare Grube, 

 Religion und Kultus der Chinesen, pp. 123, 177). 



The four strokes engraved twice on the forehead of this tiger-face 

 (Fig. 82) are noteworthy, as they were interpreted later as the written 

 character wang "king" which is always found on the modern conven- 

 tional tiger-heads as they occur on shields of plaited rattan, on 

 soldiers' buttons or on amulets in the form of paintings or woodcuts. 



The carving in Fig. 83, also of white jade, and identical on both 



