Feb., 1912. 



Jade. 



215 



last ring in Fig. 116 of a jade " purple like vine-grapes" is carved in 

 a band of clouds and "an object posterior to the Han time." 



We dwelt above on the peculiar symbolism relative to the incomplete 

 rings called kiieh. Also Wu Ta-ch'eng alludes to it in figuring a speci- 

 men of this kind in his collection (Fig. 117) in which I believe the oldest 

 type of these rings may be found. It is carved from green jade with a 

 black zone and has a double dragon (shuang lung) x engraved on the 

 one face and "the scarlet bird" (chu kio or chu niao), the bird of the 



Fig. 116. 

 Jade Girdle-Ring in Shape of Cloud-Band 

 (from Ku yii t'u p'u). 



southern quarter on the other face. The form of this bird as here 

 outlined exactly agrees with that on a tile disk of the Han period 

 ("Chinese Pottery of the Han Dynasty," Plate LXVII, Fig. 4). It is 

 not known what its proper significance is on the tile nor in this 

 connection on the ring. The break in the ring is effected by a narrow 

 strip sawn away between the two dragon-heads which cannot touch 

 each other ; it symbolically indicates the rupture or the breaking-off of 

 cordial" relations between two people. 



If we adopt for the scarlet bird the interpretation proposed by 

 L. de Saussure (T'oung Pao, 1909, p. 264; 1910, p. 614) who regards 

 it as identical with the quail symbolizing the summer, because it is born 

 from the fire of the summer, we should arrive at the conclusion that the 

 design on this side of the ring represents the summer, and be bound to 

 infer that the dragon on the opposite face should be identical with the 

 Green Dragon corresponding to the spring. Both symbols further 



1 Compare the dragon-images in Figs. 91-93. 



