Feb., 1912. 1 Jade. 307 



that period, the one being a ya-siu in jade, the other of bronze or copper, 

 both of half -globular form and showing exactly the same design of a 

 frog brought out in high relief. The one (Plate XL, Fig. 1) is finely- 

 carved from a light grayish-green and black-veined jade with a diameter 

 of 6.5 cm over the circular basis and a height of 4 cm. The correspond- 

 ing bronze piece is a solid cast with a diameter of 6.2 cm and a height 

 of 3.5 cm. The only difference in the delineation of the two creatures 

 is that the one in jade has four toes on each foot, the other three toes 

 represented. It is important to note that each is provided with four 

 feet which excludes the possibility of regarding it as the three-legged 

 mythical frog ch x an yii, the emblem of the moon. Attention may be 

 called right here to the small jade carving of a frog found in a grave of 

 the Han period (Plate XLII, Fig. 2). This is also a four-footed frog 

 with three toes, in a squatting position; the head is rather massive in 

 proportion, the mouth being indicated by an incised half-circular line, 

 the two eyes by two concentric circles. This piece is only 3.2 cm long 

 and 2 cm high, carved from a pure white jade, but covered with an 

 ivory-colored layer of hardened earth. 



In the Si king tsa ki, it is on record: "The King of Kuang-ch'uan * 

 opened the grave-mound of Duke Ling of Tsin 2 and found there a 

 striped toad of jade (yii ch'an-yu) of the size of a fist and hollow inside, 

 holding half a pint (5 ko), 3 and covered with a water-like gloss, as if it 

 were new." 



To return to our ya-siu, there remain three more interesting bronze 

 specimens of the Chou period to be considered (Plate XL). All three 

 are hollow casts moulded over a clay core which still sticks partially 

 in the piece representing a tiger-head. I presume that the core was 

 left inside intentionally to increase the weight of these objects. Of the 

 first of these (Figs. 4 a and b) I obtained a pair and thus conclude that 

 these pieces have all been made in pairs, naturally to cover the two 

 sleeves. Another interesting fact may be gathered from a comparison 

 of the two pieces in Figs. 4 and 5 which are identical in shape and design, 

 but differ considerably in dimensions; the one is 6.5 cm long, 4.5 cm 

 wide, and 5 cm high; while the other one is only 3 by 2.5 cm with a 

 height of 2.4 cm. The bigger one was used in the burial of men, the 

 smaller in the burial of women, according to Chinese information, which 



'A kingdom of the Han period (Chavannes, Se-ma Ts'ien, Vol. II, p. 497, 

 Vol. Ill, p. 99). 



s b. c. 620-607 (Chavannes, /. c, Vol. IV, pp. 311-316). 



3 Only added to impart an idea of the volume; it does not mean that the object 

 in question served as a measure of capacity. — Regarding the folklore of the frog 

 in«China compare De Groot, Die antiken Bronzepauken (Mitteilungen des Seminars 

 fur Or. Sprachen, Vol. IV, 1, pp. 104-107); Hirth, Chinesische Ansichten tiber 

 Bronzetrommeln, pp. 27-32; Chavannes, Le T'ai Chan, p. 496. 



