Page 70 - Chiense TExtiles, MET MUSEUM Pub 1934

THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART
tion of the five-clawed dragon and of the four-clawed
dragon which is not a dragon at all but only a mang.
A common belief is that the five-clawed dragon was
worn only by the emperor, but from the rather misty
depths of Chinese records we learn that the use of the
five-clawed dragon extended at least to princes of the
second order. Even so we must believe that the Ch'ing
emperors followed the admonitions of the third-century
Chang Hua with signal success and let their hearts be
united as a swarm of locusts, for the number of five-
clawed dragons that come out of China is legion. Never-
theless, it is true that the court of China was a vast in-
stitution, and the amount of silk used not only to clothe
it but to supply it with hangings, cushions, palanquins,
and other accessories was enormous, so that our misgiv-
-ings as to the authenticity of all of these pieces decorated
with the five-clawed dragon may be entirely unfounded.
There is no full account in any one authority of the
special insignia for all officials, from the emperor down
through the various ranks of nobility and on through
the civil and military offices, but by summarizing the in-
formation which we find in the Ta Ch'ing Hui Tien
and in other sources we find them graded roughly under
three heads.
I. For the emperor and for princes through those of
the second order the official garment showed four cir-
cular, five-clawed-dragon motives, the dragons on the
emperor's robe all in front view. In addition the em-
peror wore the sun and moon symbols and the wan and
6o