YUAN-MING DYNASTY, 14TH-17TH CENTURY

This belt fitting is unusual in that the two plaques are of rectangular shape and are carved in an openwork style similar to other jade rectangular plaques of Ming date that were made as belt plaques, such as the example that is at the center of a jade belt illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 41 - Jadeware (II), Hong Kong, 1995, pp. 204-205, pl. 166, or those that are part of another Ming jade belt illustrated in Zhongguo Yuqi Quanji - 5 - Sui, Tang, Ming, Hubei, 1994, p. 135, pl. 201. As there is a small opening at the end of each plaque it is likely that this may have been a belt fitting where a cord would have been looped through the openings at the ends. The ability of the two plaques to be folded flat against each other may also have facilitated storage. Another similarly constructed, jade hinged two-part belt buckle or fitting from the Qinxuan Collection, which is comprised of two rectangular plaques with rounded ends that are similarly carved in openwork with a dragon leaping amidst lotus stems, and which has a lingzhi carved on top of the link, was included in the exhibition, Magic and Order: Jade in Chinese Culture, Palm Springs Desert Museum, 1990, no. 36, where it is dated Yuan dynasty. As with the present fitting, each plaque has a similar cloud-form loop at one end and a small opening at the opposite end.