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



7. The Jade Court-Girdles of the T'ang Dynasty 



Under the T'ang dynasty (618-907 a. d.), a new fashion in court- 

 girdles came into existence. The T'ang shih lu (as quoted in the Ku 

 yii t'u p'u, Ch. 52) reports: "Girdles for the loins have existed since 

 times of old, and all used to wear them; but these were leather belts 

 throughout. Kao-tsu (618-627 a. d.) of the T'ang dynasty was the 

 first to institute regulations for the girdles: all princes and nobles, 

 lords, ministers of state and generals above the second rank were al- 

 lowed to wear jade girdles. The one of the Son of Heaven consisted 

 of twenty-four plaques, all others of thirteen plaques with two additional 

 plaques at the ends ('tails')- There were two kinds, ornamented and 

 plain ones, the former only for the use of the Son of Heaven, while the 

 princes and ministers could wear the girdles with dragon-designs only in 

 case that they were bestowed on them." This was a new departure 

 from the custom obtaining under the preceding Sui dynasty under whose 

 regulations the emperor wore a girdle with twelve metal rings, and the 

 princes and high officials one with nine such rings. We shall soon see 

 by what factors this innovation of Kao-tsu was instigated. 1 



Figure 190 represents the first of these girdles depicted in the Ku yii 

 t'u p'u consisting of twenty-four plaques carved from a lustrous white 

 jade, the girdle running all round; the single plaques are stated to be 

 2j\ inches (Chinese) long, and 2 r 8 inches wide and tV inches thick, 

 the round ones having a diameter of 51% inches, the square ones being 

 2^ inches long and 1 1 4 inches wide; the two tail-pieces being 5W inches 

 long and ii 9 ff inches wide. The two central plaques display each a 

 dragon with four claws soaring in the clouds, while the others are occu- 

 pied by cloud patterns. The judgment of the Ku yii t'u p'u on the work 

 is: "The patterns are in open-work and clever, the carving is fine like 

 down, showing the excellent workmanship of the T'ang." This, as well 

 as the next girdle (Fig. 191) of which only half is reproduced, is an 

 imperial privilege. The jade in this specimen is white and "glossy 

 like mutton -fat." It is carved with designs styled wan shou "ten thou- 

 sand ages," a hyperbolic expression for the emperor (also for his birth- 



1 There are many other regulations of the T'ang concerning girdles published 

 in the T'ang shu and the Ku kin chu, which we cannot treat here in full, as they are 

 not concerned with jade. Kao-tsu bestowed girdles of black tortoise-shell on civil, 

 and girdles of black silver on military officials, "for the reason that they should 

 indicate the unchangeability of color," a curious double symbolism with reference 

 to color and faithfulness of the officials. In the period Shang-ytian (674-676 A. d.), 

 an edict conferred girdles of gold and jade on civil and military officials above the 

 third grades, gold girdles on those of the fourth and fifth grades, silver girdles on 

 those of the sixth and seventh grades, brass (t'ou shih) girdles on those of the eighth 

 and ninth grades, and assigned copper and iron girdles to the people at large. 



