Feb., 1912. 



Jade. 



287 



dav) ; this name is derived from the svastika on which this pattern is 

 based, and which is also read wan, considered as an abbreviated form 

 of this character meaning "ten thousand," and its arrangement in this 

 composite design suggests the character shou "long life;" this occurs 

 three times in the well-known form in each of the two central plaques. 1 

 The girdle in Fig. 192 is styled "Jade court-girdle of great happi- 

 ness, equalling heaven, of the T'ang dynasty." It is not of white, but 



Fig. 190. 

 White Jade Court-Girdle with Dragon- Designs of the T'ang Period (from Ku yu t'u p'u). 



of pale-green jade, because officials are allowed to wear it. 2 The pattern 

 carved on the plaques consists of bats surrounded by clouds (pien fu 

 yiin hia chih wen) in open-work and cut out in layers "fine like down." 

 The jade of the bats is red like cinnabar (whether natural or artificial 

 is not mentioned), "which is very curious, for this red {hung) means 

 the word hung (Giles No. 5252) "great," and as the bat fu means fu 



1 For designs of a related character see L. Gaillard, Croix et Swastika en Chine, 

 Chap. Ill (Shanghai, 1893). 



2 The Ku yii t'u p'u says so, but this girdle consists of twenty-four plaques, while 

 the officials, according to the regulations, as we found, were entitled to a girdle of 

 only 13+2 plaques. I am not able to account for this contradiction. 



