302 THE MAGIC OF JEWELS AND CHARMS
means
of discriminating between genuine and imitation coral; genuine coral
had the smell of sea-water. The Chinese and the Hindus prized this
substance very highly, because among them it was used to adorn the
images of the gods.34
The perforated jade disk called ts'ang pi is
still used as the symbol of the deity Heaven (T 'ien) in the temple of
that divinity at Peking. By a regulation of Emperor Κ 'ien-lung, the
proper dimensions of this ceremonial disk were rigidly established; the
diameter of the disk proper was set at 6.1 inches, and its thickness at
7/10 of an inch ; the perforation was to have a diameter of 4/10 of an
inch. While the quality of the jade to be employed is not especially
determined, the name ts'ang implies jade of a bluish shade. The veined type of stone is regarded as peculiarly adapted for this purpose.35
We
are apt to regard Tibet as the land least accessible to modern
influence of any kind, and that least in touch with any aspect of
European civilization. It seems, therefore, not a little strange that
at the chief altar of the Royal Chapel in the Dalai Lama's palace on
Potala Hill, Lhasa, the elaborate tse-boum (incense vase or
vessel), used by the Buddhist priests in their services, is a product
of modern Parisian art, having been made in Paris about ten years ago.
The vessel proper, which is carved from several exceptionally large
pieces of coral, rests upon a flat, silver-gilt base, ornamented with
two dragons, and is crowned with an oval framework of lapis lazuli
leaves ; upon this framework is a coral statuette of Amitabha, the ' '
Lord of Boundless Light, ' ' revered as the emanation of Adi-Buddha,
supported by a lotus flower of
**
Von Hammer, " Auszüge aus dem persischen Werke, Buch der Edelsteine,
von Mohammed Ben Manssur " ; in Fundgruben des Orients, vol. vi, p. 138
; Wien, 1818.
" Berthold Laufer, " Jade, a Study in Chinese Archaeology and Religion," Chicago, 1912, p. 157.
