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- A. grain pattern
B. rush pattern
The Zhouh then goes on to list the various jades which were placed in the coffins of a deceased member of the Zhou imperial household by the Steward of the Treasury: 'He fastens silken cords through the aperture, with which these six pieces are perforated. These are the gui,and half or the circular disc
nfeJahdrbe,Crthe '!blet 10 the Shape of a tiger hu'and the tablet in the shape of a half circle huang; these objects are thus arranged to be deposited with the
corpse in the coffin.�� A commentary on these Six Auspicious jades by Zheng nnJrn'H ,he sec�nc
- cen,ury AD- abds a more specific description about their
thP h h Th T 2� V P'aCed in the C�ffin ,he 9UI is t0 the leff'the half 9ui at 2 h, T6 b � 'n the Shape �f the tiger'is ,0 ,he ri9ht- The tablet, in the shape circ'e, is at the feet; the bi disc is under the back. The jade cong is on the abdomen... The circular disc bi and the octagonal tablet cong are by their separation symbolical of Heaven and Earth.��24
According to the late Dr. Xia Nai, these statements from Confucian texts on the
thousand*! L Au_sPicious Jades in tombs are a total fabrication. Several thousand tombs of the Zhou period and more than 10,000 Han dynasty tombs
have been excavated since 1949, and none have shown this close relationship
Au^tcious Jades �ShaPe ^ Sh�Wn th'S eXaCt arran9ament of the Six
The Zhoulialso contains a passage relating to jade objects being used as in�signia of rank for the feudal nobility of the Western Zhou period The (an elon gale labtet o, �a, scep�e) in various lorms and dimensions symbofeed,he inst nia of the king and of the first three grades of the nobility. The sovereign held^ zhen gui (a broad flat, perforated sceptre); a duke held a sceptre)-
{"he fourthpnriffth' (el�n9atfd SCeptre)i an earl a9onggu/(curved sceptre); while the fourth and fifth grades of viscount and baron held bi discs decorated with little
bosses known as the �grain" pattern and with a trellis-like design called the �rush� pattern respectively.26 In their overzealous attempt of systematization, the Confu�cian scholars used grain and rush patterned bi discs as insignia. This is clearly an
n!!ratCnfTSp T If PattemS did ^ make their first aPPearance until the late part of the Eastern Zhou period.27
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