Feb., 1912. Jade. 261 



in Fig. 4 is light -green with purple clouds; that in Fig. 5 is white with 

 brown-red patches in the lower end and on the back; * that in Fig. 6 

 is black with a few white spots. 



The various dimensions of the loops on the backs of these pieces 

 show that belts varied much in width. As the length of these openings 

 indicates the width of the girdle, we have girdles of 4.7, 2.6, 2.5, 

 2.8, 3.1, and 1.8 cm in width, which may be accounted for by assigning 

 them to men, women and children according to size. 



If we now glance back at Fig. 161 derived from the Ku yii Vu p'u, 

 we shall notice that this piece is in many respects at variance with 

 those published by Wu and me. First, technically, the loop occupies 

 only a small strip in the centre of the back, while in our pieces it extends 

 over the whole width of the clasp; the two projections at the ends, as 

 here drawn, do not occur in any of our pieces. There is not only no 

 sense and purpose in them, but also, as they are visible on the front, 

 they disfigure the artistic unity and impression of the object, and it may 

 be boldly stated that no artist of the Han period could have been guilty 

 of such an absurd breach of good taste. In regard to decoraticn, it is 

 curious that it is divided into two fields by a central zone, and that each 

 field winds up with an animal's head, the upper one looking upward, 

 the lower one downward, the two looking away from each other. This 

 arrangement is so inartistic that certainly no Han artist has conjured 

 it up. Now if all these absurdities would occur in just this one piece, 

 one might pass over the matter in silence with a forgiving spirit; but 

 exactly the same folly is repeated in five other pieces, — the same loop, 

 the same prongs, the same division of ornaments, and the same heads, 

 while not one normal specimen is reproduced. And in this creation the 

 Ku yii Vu p'u stands alone. The seven specimens illustrated in the 

 Ku yii Vu, the appendix to the Po ku Vu, are of exactly the same style 

 as those of Wu and my own. Since that work is known to us as un- 

 reliable and teeming with fictitious matter and late productions, not 

 to use such a harsh word as forgeries, we shall not err in declining to 

 see in those girdle-clasps works of the Han period for which they are 

 given out; they may have been made under the Sung, if ever made at 

 all, — as such a specimen has never turned up, — unless simply drawn 

 from hearsay, or as an attempt at traditionary reconstruction. 



'This jade is called "red jade of the Han dynasty" (hung Han yii). The speci- 

 men in question was found in the village Wan-ts'un west of Si-ngan fu. 



