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



lotus-stems gracefully spread over the bottom, one stem with a large 

 leaf whose rim is turned up, another with a seed-pod surrounded by 

 two leaves, others surmounted by young buds. I regret that it is im- 

 possible to make an adequate reproduction which would do full justice 

 to all the beauties of the design and its execution. The interior of 

 the bowl is plain. It was excavated, and chemical effects underground 

 seem to have brought about changes in the original coloring. It is 

 6.5 cm high with a diameter of 14.5 cm; the thickness of the three 

 layers amounts to 6, 12, and 18 mm, respectively. 



On Plate XL VI are illustrated a set of two vessels, a ewer and a cov- 

 ered vase, carved from a fine cloud-white translucid jade and attributed 

 to the period of the Ming dynasty (1 368-1 644). The ewer is well 

 known as an ancient type in bronze and pottery. 1 A dragon-head with 

 open jaws springs forth from the handle which terminates in a fish-tail 

 below. As this vessel served to pour out water over the hands in wash- 

 ing, the presence of the dragon doubtless had some realistic meaning, in 

 that the dragon as the water-giving animal was supposed to spurt the 

 water from its mouth. The three feet, triangular in section, are elegant- 

 ly curved outward, and on the two outer sides decorated with engraved 

 meander patterns surmounted by a monster's head (t'ao-t'ieh) between 

 the two front-feet. The body of the vessel is laid out with a band on 

 which two pairs of conventionalized reclining monsters in 'strongly 

 geometric style are displayed in flat relief. The whole is a perfect 

 piece of work. It is 14 cm high, and 16.7 cm wide from the tip of the 

 snout to the handle. 



The bottle-shaped vase (25 cm high, 10 cm wide) is decorated on 

 both sides with blossoming peonies (mu-tan) and bamboo-leaves. On 

 the neck are two Svastika enclosing the ornamental character shou 

 "longevity." The Svastika stands here for the character wan ''ten 

 thousand," and we obtain a rebus reading chu ("bamboo") fu kuei % 

 p'ing ("vase") Hang wan shou, i. e. "With best wishes for happiness, 

 honorable position, peace and numberless (twenty-thousand) years!" 



The small wine-cup carved from white jade in Fig. 3 of Plate XLV 

 and coming down from the K'ien-lung period (1 736-1 795) is an imita- 

 tion in jade of the bronze sacrificial vessel i (Giles No. 5443) once used 

 in the ancestral cult, but in modern times serving only as a loving-cup 

 in the marital ceremony when bride and groom alternately drink wine 

 from it. The two handles are formed into dragon-heads holding in 

 their jaws the rim of the bowl and terminating in fish-tails. A threefold 



Compare Chinese Pottery of the Han Dynasty, pp. 131-132. 

 2 Symbolized by the peony called fu kuei hua "flower of wealth and honorable 

 position." 



