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5.

single eye with the eye-brows and some filling-in works.  In both ^[[XXX:1]] and ^[[XXX:2]] it is the "eye" that is important, the other motifs are employed to fill in. ^[[XXX:4]] is a simpler work, but interesting, because it is inlaid with turquois.

The most interesting of all is of course the handle piece ^[[(XXX:5)]].  It was encased during its discovery, in a very thick layer of crust almost as hard as travertine.  A whole month was spent to free it from its encasement.  The whole handle measure ^[[14.8]] cm. and is slightly hollow at the small end.  Both sides are completely carved.  The decoration is divisible into five sections, each characterized by a conventionalized animal head, facing alternatively at right angles.  The odd section, with full face on the wider side, slightly bulge out.  The composition on the whole reminds one of the totem pole ^[[of]] the North-western coast, althou the individual motifs are ha[[strikethrough]]n[[/strikethrough]]^[[r]]dly the same.  It shows excellent workmanship.

The series of hair-pins shown in Plate ^[[XXXII]] indicate some tendency of the art development in this period.

It has been long known that in early  time a cock was carved at the top of a hair-pin.  Such pins were worn by girls at the age of puberty.  It symbolizes young womanhood^[[,]] with accompanying duties.  First of all, she must get up early, as early as the first call of the cock.

The discovery of these hair[[strikethrough]]-[[/strikethrough]]pins not only confirm this tradition, but also contradicts the idea that Shang Dynasty was still in the stage of matriarch^[[y]]; as such symbols obviously mark a state of ^[[domesticated]] females.

However it is the art side that we are here concerned.  As illustrate^[[d]] in Plate [[strikethrough]]IV[[/strikethrough]]^[[XXXII]]^[[,]] three different directions of development may be observed: simplification ^[[(a-series),]] conventionalization ^[[(a'-series),]] and elabora-