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Outer diameter:
16.2 cm, hole diameter: 3.75
cm, thickness: 0.65
cm
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Carved from opaque white and grey jade, the
design on either side of this piece are the same. The
design is composed of two concentric bands of designs
around the hole. The inner band is done in openwork
with two characters above and two below. The ones
above read "ch'ang-lo" (perpetual happiness) and those
below "wei-yang" (never-ending). To either side of the
characters are a dragon and tiger design also done in
openwork. The head of the dragon is shown in profile,
and it has wings and scales. The head of the tiger is
shown in frontal view, and even the fur is evident.
The outer band is decorated in low relief with the
four spirit animals known as the "blue dragon", "white
tiger", "red phoenix", and "black hsuan-wu
(serpent and turtle)". The design on the other is
almost identical, except for the starting point of the
"blue dragon". In front of the mouths of the "blue
dragon" and "red phoenix" on front side are symbols of
the sun, while near the tail of the "white tiger" is a
symbol of the moon. The three of them are evenly
arranged on the surface. This disc may have been used
as a form of tribute.
At present, there are more than ten Eastern Han
style discs that have images of spirit animals either
carved in relief or in openwork. At least ten of them
have auspicious characters, and the dragon and tiger
are the two spirit animals most commonly seen. Some
also bear all four spirit animals, but only with a
short small dragon (representing a serpent) or a
turtle to represent the hsuan-wu
combination of the serpent and turtle--but with no
characters. Only this beautiful disc has not only two
two-character combinations but also the full pairing
of turtle and serpent to represent hsuan-wu. The
carving and design are also exceptionally fine, making
this a remarkable jade.