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



ch'u nien) which would refer to a period from 25 to about 30 a. d., for 

 also this dragon-head, though not identical with, but differing in style 

 from, the preceding one, savors of Buddhistic influence. Also in this 

 case, the editors intimate a pictorial undercurrent, at least in regard to 

 the pattern of "rolled clouds," of which they say that "it is sublime 

 like painting" {yen ju Vu hud). I think they are quite right, for it is 



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Fig. 173. 



Ancient Jade Buckle, with Dragon-Head in the Style of the Painter Chang Seng-yu of the Sixth 



Century (from Ku yii Vu p'u). 



indeed the cloud-pattern as it occurs in the Buddhist painting of the 

 T'ang period. But if this style has sprung from pictorial art, it seems 

 also likely that the dragon-head has the same origin, for it is a uniform 

 composition: the dragon soaring in the clouds, as the motive of the 

 preceding composition is the scaly dragon. I should therefore make the 

 piece in question not earlier than the age of the T'ang dynasty, though 

 it must be admitted that it may even go as far down as the Sung period. 

 In such doubtful cases, it is best to indicate the date simply as mediaeval. 

 Such a mediaeval object is surely also the buckle in Fig. 175 sur- 

 mounted by the head of a bearded phenix with cloud-shaped crest. 

 In this case, the date is established as between the Tsin and Sung (/'. e. 



