VII. PERSONAL ORNAMENTS OF JADE 



This subject is vast and complex, but I have attempted to treat it 

 as comprehensively as possible, as far as the present state of our knowl- 

 edge permits. Stress is naturally laid on the ornaments used in the 

 earliest times of Chinese antiquity; without arriving at an adequate 

 understanding of these, we cannot hope, either, to appreciate those of 

 the present age. Personal ornaments always exercised a deep influence 

 upon social life, being full of hidden emblematic significance and 

 speaking a language of their own understood by the donor and the 

 wearer. Their shapes and their designs are living realities. In their 

 execution, the Chinese genius shows at its best and rivals that of the 

 greatest lapidaries of all ages. Neither the cut gems of Greece nor the 

 much praised Netsuke of Japan come up to the ideal standard of these 

 humble carvers, their refinement of taste, their vigor and elegance of 

 design, their zest for linear beauty, and their almost superhuman 

 mastery of the tough stone material with their crude implements. 

 With all our progress in technical matters, we often stand in bewilder- 

 ment before these gems, puzzled as to how they did it. A rich source 

 of instruction may open up here also for our art-designers and crafts- 

 men who are desirous of forsaking the old ruts and of receiving a new 

 stimulus. The ethnological and art -historical importance of this 

 material cannot be overvalued: it is a sort of object-lesson for the 

 study of decorative forms and designs. 



i. The Girdle-Pendant 



Jade pieces were worn as girdle-ornaments in most ancient times* 

 and the wearers rejoiced in their tinkling and clattering while walk- 

 ing, and imagined they heard real musical tones produced by these. 

 "The gentlemen in times of antiquity," says the Li ki (Yii tsao III, 6) 

 "were sure to wear jades suspended from the girdle. Those on the 

 right side emitted the notes Chih and Kio (the fourth and third notes 

 of the Chinese gammut), and those on the left gave the notes Kung 

 and Yii (the first and fifth notes of the gammut)." This was, so to 

 speak, the accompaniment to music actually played; for certain tunes 

 were performed in connection with the emperor's walks, and in all 

 his movements, the pieces of jade sounded their tinklings. So also 

 the gentleman, when in his carriage, heard the harmonious sounds of 

 its bells; and when walking, those of his pendent jades; and in this 



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