July, 1913. Notes on Turquois. 15 



precious stones are offered, but it is the case also with many others. It 

 is interesting that these tribute-bearers are usually people from Central 

 Asia with unmistakable racial features and appropriate costume, or 

 even turbaned Mohammedans. We find the same figures also on the 

 corresponding Arhat paintings of the Chinese and Japanese, and they 

 are doubtless intended to express the important role which Iranians, 

 Ttirks and Arabs have played in transmitting to the East the precious 

 stones of western Asia. 



In the marriage ceremony when the bridal party has arrived at the 

 gate of the bridegroom's house, the officiating priest recites a few 

 benedictory verses, describing the house of the bridegroom: "May 

 there be happiness to all living beings ! The lintel of this door is yellow, 

 being made of gold. The door posts are cut out of blocks of turquois. 

 The sill is made of silver. The door frame is made of lapis lazuli. 

 Opening this auspicious door, you find in it the repository of five kinds 

 of precious things. Blessed are they who live in such a house. "^ This 

 is certainly an ideal or poetical description. In a more ancient marital 

 ceremony described in the Tibetan dramatic play Nang-sa, "the tur- 

 quois sparkling in rainbow tints" is tied to the end of an arrow adorned 

 with streamers of five-colored silk which is fastened to the back of the 

 bride to fix the marriage tie.^ In Ladakh, the bride generally receives, 

 on her wedding day, many of the turquoises which her mother had worn.^ 



To describe all objects in which turquois is employed would mean to 

 survey the whole range of Tibetan ethnography, which is certainly 

 beyond the scope of these notes.^ But reference should be made to 

 the beautiful Tibetan swords in which the hilts and sheaths worked in 

 repousse gold or silver are inlaid with large turquois and coral beads. 

 This is an ancient technique practised also by the Turks of Central Asia 

 and the Persians.^ 



So little is known about the localities in Tibet where turquois is 

 found that there have even been authors who doubted its indigenous 

 occurrence. 



1 S. Chandra Das, Marriage Customs of Tibet, p. 12. 



2 L. A. Waddell, Buddism of Tibet, p. 557 (London, 1895). 

 ' A. H. Francke, Ladakhi Songs, p. 13. 



* For illustrations see Plates I-V. The Field Museum possesses a rich collection 

 of Tibetan, Nepalese and Chinese jewelry which will give occasion at some future 

 date for a study in decorative and industrial art. The Tibetan process of covering 

 a gold or silver foundation with a mosaic of turquois agrees with the similar technique 

 practised in Siberia during the bronze age, and therefore becomes an historical factor 

 of great importance. 



* Compare the Sassanian sword reconstructed by J. de Morgan (Mission 

 scientifique en Perse, Vol. IV, p. 321, Paris, 1897) the shape of which is strikingly 

 identical with the Tibetan sword. 



