692 CHINESE ARCHITECTURE. 



in bronze of three pieces — the conventional " Set of Three " (San 

 Shih), composed of a tripod urn, a round box with cover, and a vase 

 to hold tools, all chased with Arabic scrolls — usuallj^ stands on the 

 same table. 



One of these Mohammedan incense burners is illustrated in plate 

 xviii. It is of cast bronze, shaped as a shallow bowl, with two 

 monster-head handles, standing on three feet, also ornamented with 

 masks of monsters. The sides, encircled above and below by rows of 

 bosses suggestive of rivets, are engraved in two panels with foliated 

 edges with Muslim inscriptions in debased Arabic, executed in relief 

 on a punched ground. It is marked inside with tAvo dragons inclosing 

 the seal " Ta Ming Hsiian Te nien chih," i. e ., made in the reign of 

 Hsiian Te (A. D. 1426-1435) of the great Ming dynasty. On the 

 base, underneath, is another seal mark inscribed " Xui fan chiao 

 she," i. e., for tutelary worship at the inner altar. 



In the same courtyard as the mosque there are side buildings which 

 serve as cloisters for the mullahs and the other resident officials, 

 including usually a school where young Muslims are taught the ele- 

 ments of their religion from books printed in Chinese Turkistan, 

 where the natives are all Mohammedans. There is, as a general rule, 

 no minaret in Chinese mosques; the nniezzin calls out the time of 

 prayer from the entrance gateway. A half-ruined gateway of 

 unusual height is illustrated in plate xix. It belongs to a mosque 

 built close outside the palace wall, within the city of Peking, by the 

 Emperor Ch'ien I^ung, for the benefit of a favorite concubine, a 

 princess of the old royal line of Kashgaria, so that she might hear 

 the call to prayer from a pavilion built for her, just opposite, on a 

 hillock inside the wall of the prohibited palace. The Emperor tells 

 the story himself on a marble stele erected by him in the precincts 

 of the mosque with a triangular inscription, engraved in three scripts, 

 Manchu, Chinese, and Turki, which has been translated in the Jour- 

 nal Asiatique by Monsieur Devcria. 



