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



other ornaments cut out of hard stone. A branch with plum-blossoms 

 is engraved on the surface. 



The Han Wu ku shih l relates how the Emperor Wu built a temple 

 and in the front -hall erected trees of jade, with branches made of red 

 coral, leaves of green jade, flowers and seeds blue and red made of pre- 

 cious stones hollowed out in the middle like little bells, tinkling as they 

 hung (Bushell in Bishop, Vol. I, p. 48). A craftsman of the princi- 

 pality of Sung is credited with having cut jade or ivory into leaves of 

 the paper-mulberry tree with such perfect resemblance that they might 

 have been taken for natural products; but as each leaf required three 

 years of labor, his compatriot, the philosopher Lieh-tse, ridiculed his 

 vain ability (Petillon, Allusions litteraires, p. 185). 2 Under the 

 present dynasty a pair of jade trees often forms part of the trousseau 

 of a wealthy bride; the Chinese keep them covered with glass shades. 



In the Ku yii t'u p'u no jade trees are figured or mentioned. There 

 is an interesting account in the "Annals of the T'ang Dynasty" (T'ang 

 shu) in the notice regarding Tokharestan (T'u-ho-lo) to the effect that 

 in 662 a. d. an "agate lamp-tree" (ma-nao teng shu), three feet high, 

 was sent from there to the Chinese Court (Chavannes, Documents 

 sur les Turcs occidentaux, p. 157, St. Pet., 1903). The word teng 

 written with the classifier for "metal," I take here, as is the case quite 

 frequently, as a variant of teng "lamp," usually written with the classi- 

 fier for "fire." I understand the object in the sense that a regular tree 

 was carved from agate, and that the ends of its branches were so made 

 as to hold an oil-lamp or a candle. 



A pair of such trees coming down from the K'ien-lung period (1736- 

 1795) is in our collection (Plates LXVI and LXVII). They are planted 

 in pots worked in cloisonne enamel, the principal pattern consisting of 

 five bats (wu fu = five blessings 3 ) , the larger central one being enclosed 

 in a central medallion and connected with the figure of a resonant 

 jade stone (k'ing = with, congratulations or blessings). The two outer 

 and upper bats carry calabashes (hu-lu) suspended from bands, symbols 

 of fertility and numerous progeny because of the numerous seeds which 

 they contain. Hence an appropriate design for a bridal couple. For 



X A record relating to the time of the Emperor Wu (b. c. 140-86) by Pan Ku. 

 while others believe that it was compiled during the T'ang period (Bretschneider, 

 Botanicon Sinicum, Part I, No. 138). 



2 According to the Tarikh Djihan Kushai, Buku Khan, the king of the Uighur, 

 had a dream in which he saw a man dressed in white, who gave him a piece of jade 

 in the form of a pine tree, and said to him; "As long as you are able to keep this piece 

 of jade in your possession, you will rule over the four quarters of the globe." His 

 minister had the same dream. (Bretschneider in Journal China Branch R. Asiatic 

 Society, Vol. X, 1876, p. 202.) 



3 Viz. Old age, wealth, health, love of virtue, and a natural death. 



