Page 10 - Chinese Decorative Arts: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 55, no. 1 (Summer, 1997)

Mongol Passport
....................................................................................
Yuan
dynasty, 13th century
Iron with silver inlay
H. 71/8 in. (18.1 cm)
Purchase, Graham Bennett, 1993
Bequest of Dorothy
1993.256
AM/ etal plaques (pai&i) in various shapes
and materials (gold, silver, and iron)
were essential to Mongol administration, begin-
of
ning with the reign Chinggis (1206-27), the
first Great Khan. The plaques are not only
important historical documents but they are
also of great interest for the study of Asian
metalwork during the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries, a time of massive movements of
people and rapid exchange of ideas and
technology.
Two kinds of Mongol plaques were issued-
to officials as patents of office and as passports
for persons on state missions and for important
guests. (Marco Polo on his return journey to
Venice would have carried one.) The Metro-
politan's example is a passport.
The plaque is of iron with inlay of thick
silver bands forming characters in Phagspa
in
script, devised for the Mongol language 1269
by the Tibetan monk Phagspa (I235-I280),
who was a close advisor to Khubilai Khan
(r. 1260-95). The inscription reads in transla-
tion (by Morris Rossabi):
By the strength of Eternal Heaven,
an edict of the Emperor [Khan].
He who has no respect shall be guilty.

Above it is a lobed handle, with an animal mask
in silver inlay. The mask is probably the
ktrttimukha (lion mask) taken from Tibetan
art but ultimately of Indian origin; the lobed
shape reflects Islamic influence. Silver inlay
is
on iron (as opposed to bronze) extremely
rare in China before the Mongol period.
This plaque is one of about a dozen Mongol
paiji known. Two others of the same type are
in Lanzhou, China, and in Russia. (The latter
example was found during the nineteenth
in
century Tomskaya.) JCYW

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