DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.63296#0056
EARLY CHINESE JADES
insignia according to their precedence, stood the princes awaiting him*
Music sounded, songs were chanted as the red ox was led out to be
sacrificed* Portions of the victim were placed upon the altar and watered
with pure “ moon-water ” collected at the full moon from condensation
on mirrors* A pi was laid upon the altar and burnt with the sacrificial
meat* Presently the air was filled with the smell of aromatic herbs and
the fat of burnt offerings. “ Look,” says a poet, describing one of these
ceremonies, “ look at the gathering of beautiful women, their elegance is
abundant and supreme, their faces are white as lettuce blooms, thousands
of persons press forward to see* The women music-makers are clothed in
embroidered robes and in gauzes light as mist. They have trains of fine
silk and fine linen, they wear pendants of pearl and jade* They hold in
their arms the ssowers kia ye, iris and perfumed orchis*”1
The remains of the victim were shared amongst the feudatories and their
relatives, this participation in the sacrifice enhancing their good fortune*
When Confucius, in 496 b.c*, wished to quit the service of the Marquis of
Lu he gave as an excuse that a sacrifice had been offered to Heaven at
which the Marquis had forgotten to give him any portion of the victim*
A pi was, as we see, burnt in this sacrifice ; and pi are in existence which
show traces of being half consumed* Dr* Gieseler has one in his collec-
tion,2 one-third of which still retains its blue-green colour, the rest is
scorched and colourless* But though this example is a green jade, many
of the larger pi are not blue-green in colour* The suggestion may be
hazarded that little trouble was taken with regard to the quality or colour
of jades to be consumed or partially consumed in sacrifice to Heaven or
Tien, and that the best pi were made for the temple of Shang Ti where
they would be preserved in perpetuity* This distinction may account for
the number of large nondescript coloured yet important pi which have
come down to us*
The study of early texts has led Dr* Gieseler to conclude that pi were used
in the worship of Heaven or Tien and of Shang Ti, as well as in the cult
of ancestors and funeral rites of the dead*3 It is known that pi were
placed before the tablets of ancestors ; in the coffins of the dead, and in
times of great public calamity were offered lavishly to the hsien (spirits).
It was usual also to propitiate the genii of the mountains by the offering
of a jade pi, and the genii of rivers were conciliated by jade discs thrown
into their streams*
1 P. 613, Vol. Ill, Mem, Hist, 2 P. 70, Le Jade dans le Culte.
8 See Le Jade dans le Culte,
32
insignia according to their precedence, stood the princes awaiting him*
Music sounded, songs were chanted as the red ox was led out to be
sacrificed* Portions of the victim were placed upon the altar and watered
with pure “ moon-water ” collected at the full moon from condensation
on mirrors* A pi was laid upon the altar and burnt with the sacrificial
meat* Presently the air was filled with the smell of aromatic herbs and
the fat of burnt offerings. “ Look,” says a poet, describing one of these
ceremonies, “ look at the gathering of beautiful women, their elegance is
abundant and supreme, their faces are white as lettuce blooms, thousands
of persons press forward to see* The women music-makers are clothed in
embroidered robes and in gauzes light as mist. They have trains of fine
silk and fine linen, they wear pendants of pearl and jade* They hold in
their arms the ssowers kia ye, iris and perfumed orchis*”1
The remains of the victim were shared amongst the feudatories and their
relatives, this participation in the sacrifice enhancing their good fortune*
When Confucius, in 496 b.c*, wished to quit the service of the Marquis of
Lu he gave as an excuse that a sacrifice had been offered to Heaven at
which the Marquis had forgotten to give him any portion of the victim*
A pi was, as we see, burnt in this sacrifice ; and pi are in existence which
show traces of being half consumed* Dr* Gieseler has one in his collec-
tion,2 one-third of which still retains its blue-green colour, the rest is
scorched and colourless* But though this example is a green jade, many
of the larger pi are not blue-green in colour* The suggestion may be
hazarded that little trouble was taken with regard to the quality or colour
of jades to be consumed or partially consumed in sacrifice to Heaven or
Tien, and that the best pi were made for the temple of Shang Ti where
they would be preserved in perpetuity* This distinction may account for
the number of large nondescript coloured yet important pi which have
come down to us*
The study of early texts has led Dr* Gieseler to conclude that pi were used
in the worship of Heaven or Tien and of Shang Ti, as well as in the cult
of ancestors and funeral rites of the dead*3 It is known that pi were
placed before the tablets of ancestors ; in the coffins of the dead, and in
times of great public calamity were offered lavishly to the hsien (spirits).
It was usual also to propitiate the genii of the mountains by the offering
of a jade pi, and the genii of rivers were conciliated by jade discs thrown
into their streams*
1 P. 613, Vol. Ill, Mem, Hist, 2 P. 70, Le Jade dans le Culte.
8 See Le Jade dans le Culte,
32