The emperor and the broken chain

Wirth's version of the Emperor

I happened to see on TV a bit of a historical drama about the court of the Yongzheng Emperor (Qing dynasty). The Khan of Khans had visited the emperor and presented the court with a circular chain carved from a single piece of jade, challenging anyone to unlink its links. Finally a young girl solved the puzzle in the spirit of Alexander cutting the Gordian knot, by dashing the chain to the floor and shattering it.

About an hour later I read this in Oswald Wirth’s Tarot:

As sanction to the close links which bind [arcana] 4 to 8, a sign common to both decorates the Emperor and Justice: it is the necklace in the form of a plait, the emblem of the simple co-ordination of vital fibres which are linked by a cord which is stronger than a chain whose links are liable to break.

I should note that the Qing emperor, like all Chinese men of that period, wore a long plait, or queue.