FABULOUS TREASURE OF CHINESE EMPRESS

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6810, 14 January 1929, Page 5

FABULOUS TREASURE OF CHINESE EMPRESS

Imperial Tombs Rifled JEWELS VALUED AT OVER £6,000,000 The outrage perpetrated at the Imperial tombs after the fall of Pekin, when the coffins of Manchu emperors were rifled of the wealth of jewels they contained, has brought to light a remarkable description of the treasures of gold, pearls, jade' and other gems in which the body of the Empress Dowager Tzu Ilsi, the “Old Buddha, as she was affectionately known, was literally packed (says the , Shanghai correspondent of the ’limes). For anything like it one must go to the “Arabian Nights.” The Old Buddah had a favourite eunuch named Li I.ien-ying. He amassed a colossal fortune, wielded more power than any Viceroy, and incidentally kept a diary, which would probably be as interesting a document as any ever written. From this diary his orand-nephew, Li Ying-chou, has now published all the circumstances of the burial of the Empress Dowager, with a list of the treasures put into her coffin. In view of the habits of Oriental potentates, there seems no reason to disbelieve this record, especially as it can hardly be supposed that Li Lienying ever thought of its being published.

It is recorded that before the Dowager Empress was laid in the coffin the bottom was spread with a mattress of gold thread, Tin. thick, in which was woven an embroidery of pearls. On toJ> of the mattress was laid a silk embroidered coverlet strewn with a layer of pearls. In the pearl layer was a lace sheet of pearls, into which was woven a figure of Buddha. At the head there was placed a jade orna-

meat resembling lotus leaves in the shape of a lotus flower. These were arranged in their -places am! then the body was lifted into the coffin. Hie head of the Dowager Empress rested on the lotus leaves .and her feet on the lotus flower. She was dressed in a ceremonial robe on which pears were embroidered in gold thread, and over that an embroidered jacket with a rope of pearls; also a rope of pearls encircled her body nine times, and eighteen pearl images of Buddha were laid by her arms. All these were gifts sent by private persons for the Imperial obsequies; they are not included in the official list of valuables. Marvellous Craftsmanship. These -private gifts having been .so displayed, the body was covered with the sacred Tolo pall, on which arc written prayers iu Manchu script. A chaplet of pearls was placed on her head, and by her side were laid, gold, jade .and gem Buddhas to the number of 108. On each side ol: the feet, right and left, were placed one watermelon, two sweet melons of jade, and reins made in the shape of peaches, pears, apricots, dates and other fruit, to the number of 200. By the Empress’s left side was placed a gem shaped like a lotus root, with leaves and flowers sprouting from the top. On the right there was a coral tree. The interstices were Ailed with scattered pearls and gems until the whole was level and over all was spread a network covering of pearls. As the attendants were in the act of placing the lid on the coffin, a certain princess entered, and took from a casket a gem ornament of eight galloping horses and I another of eighteen Buddhist Lohan. She removed the covering and placed them by the side of the body. She replaced the coverlet, and this concluded the ceremony of encollining the body of the Old Buddha.

Li Lien-ying engaged an expert to value the contents of the coffin, and lias left a list from which I quote some of the principal items, in sterling, taking a tael as worth, roughly, 2s 6d, although it is at the moment a little above that. The stolen treasures would certainly be worth much more now than when they were buried. The gold mattress was valued. at £.10,500, the pearls, rubies,. sapphires, emeralds and jade with which it was interwoven at £112,500. The jade lo-tus-leaf ornament, of which the leaves were green ancl the veins natural, not engraved, was valued at £106,250; and

the emerald lotus flower, which weighed nearly thirty-seven Chinese ounces, at £03.750, but the diarist’s nephew thinks, probably rightly, that this is far too little. Pearls by Thousands. ; The ropes of pearls worn by the Empress and the pearl-embroidered jacket (the work of embroidering alone cost £i000) contained 420 large pearls, 11,00 medium, and 4500 small. Other gems, large and small, numbered 1135,. .the value of the whole being £1,500,000. Three Court necklaces, two of pearls and one o frubies, are estimated at £306,250. The chaplet of pearls on the head, the making of which, cost nearly £7,000, and which is said to have included a pearl weighing 40z., was valued at ‘£1,250,000. The two jade water-melons placed by the Empress’s feet—they had a green rind, red fruit, and white seeds —were estimated to be worth £275,000. The gem lotus root placed at the left side was three sections long, and had grey earth adhering to il; from the top sprouted green lotus leaves and a white flower with a black corolla. This was valued at £125,000, but Li’s grand-nephew thinks it wms really rare and more valuable than the melons. Finally on the body were laid 500 large pearls, 1000 of medium, and 2200 of smaller I size, besides 2200 sapphires to the value of £228,750. The items in the valuation given by Li Lien-ying add up to about £6,250,000. But many gifts by Manchu princes are not included. The finest of these, says Li, were the eight galloping horses and eighteen Buddhist Lohan. The horses were 2in. in length, and each carved from a separate gem, and the colour of each was different. The eighteen Lohan were also different. It would be interesting to know into whose hands these marvels have passed since the Old Buddha’s body was torn from among them and left lying on the unfeeling earth.