Jade Princess

A burial suit made of 2160 pieces of jade, tied together with gold wire, was intended to preserve forever the body of the Han princess Dou Wan. The princess was the principal wife of Liu Sheng, son of the Han dynasty emperor, Jingdi. She died in about 113 BC, at a time when jade was believed to be an infallible preservative because of its hardness. The prince, who died in about 113 BC, had a suit even more elaborate than his wife's: it contained 2690 polished discs of the highly prized stone. The jade suits were uncovered at Mancheng, about 110 km (70 miles) southwest of the capital, Beijing, in 1968. [caption id="attachment_20498" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Princess Dou Wan’s burial suit[/caption]