QING DYNASTY (1644-1911)

The current pendant, comprising two interlocking plaques, is known as hefu ‘combined tallies’. One plaque has a grooved edge, the other with a flanged edge. When the flange slides through the groove, the two ‘tallies’ are interlocked. Hefu functioned as objects of verification in ancient China, and were usually made in bamboo, wood, stone or bronze. When two parties made a pact, each party secured one side of the hefu. The pact could be verified when both parties presented their matching tallies.
During the Qing dynasty, the hefu had lost its functionality and were used as pendants, possibly as gifts symbolising marital bliss and union. A jade hefu dating to the Qing dynasty, similarly comprised of two flat plaques, is in the Palace Museum Collection, illustrated in Jadeware (III), The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1995, pl. 16. (fig. 1)