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



sessed with one horn; when it appears, there will be a heavy rainfall." 

 And therefore the inference is that the ornament of this buckle implies 

 the idea of "moisture." In my opinion this shang yang is identical 

 with the ling yang 1 {antelope caudata) and means "sheep of Shang-chou," 

 the city in Shensi; for in the T'u king pen ts'ao by Su Sung of the Sung 

 period it is expressly stated that this antelope (ling yang) occurs in the 

 mountains of Shang-chou. 2 Transparent lan- 

 terns are still manufactured in Peking from the 

 horns of this antelope sliced into thin pieces 

 which, after having been soaked in water for 

 some weeks, are joined together. Evidently, 

 in the application of the ling-yang on the 

 buckle, a rebus is intended by way of punning 

 with ling (Giles No. 7218) "old age," for 

 which at present the more popular fungus of 

 immortality (ling chih) is used; this seems 

 more plausible than the suggested allusion to 

 rain. 



In Fig. 171, the head is explained as that 

 of the fabulus animal p'i-sieh; this term means 

 also "to ward off evil spirits" in the sense of a 

 talisman and "to avoid evil thoughts," so that 

 its presence here might express an admonition 

 and protection to the bearer (compare Ch. X 

 and Fig. 195). A coiled hydra is engraved on 

 the body. The date is given as that of the 

 Han period. 



The head in the buckle of Fig. 172 is said 

 to be that of the t'ien-lu, an animal of lucky 

 foreboding in the Han palace. 3 

 Three other illustrations may be added for the sake of the art -histor- 

 ical interest in the types of the dragon and phenix. The belt -buckle in 

 Fig. 173 is surmounted by a peculiar dragon-head. "All over the 

 body it is covered with fish-scales, and the dragon's form in its weird, 

 wriggling motion is as sublime as the kind of dragons painted by Chang 

 S6ng-yu." The latter was a famous painter of Buddhist subjects, 

 living under the Liang dynasty in the first part of the sixth century, 



1 Giles No. 7208. 



2 Quoted in Hing-ngan fu chi, Ch. n, p. 16. 



3 T'ien-lu was also the name of a pavilion north of the Han palace Wei-yang, 

 which contained the archives. Giles explains it as a fabulous creature like a deer 

 with one horn, placed on the top of columns at the graves of officials of the third 

 rank. 



Fig. 170. 



Ancient Jade Buckle with 



Head of Antelope 



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





