Jade History

Jade is loosely understood in China as the collective name for most precious stones, and jade carving in this sense is an important part of Chinese arts and crafts. The love of jade ware, according to Dr. Joseph Needham, the noted British naturalist, has been one of the cultural traits of China. jade tools have been found among the archaeological remains dating from the Stone Age. There are, however, no evidence to indicate that neolithic people attached a great value for the consumer jade, they chose jade only because it was hard and good for making tools and fighting weapons. As time passed, people gradually came to appreciate the beauty of the stone, which after carving and polishing things could become not only useful but pleasing to the eye.
In the historical era is replaced slave society of feudal society, jade articles was established as objects of pure decoration. Among the funerary objects unearthed from tombs of that period are many jade articles used as personal ornaments or ceremonial vessels. The jade exhibits one sees today in museums in the country normally comprise vases, incense burners, tripods, cups and wine glasses of different nature.

jade articles began to appear larger in the middle of Chinese feudalism. There is now in the City of Round Beihai Park a large jade jar the size of a small bathtub. Was used as a wine container by the Yuan Emperor Kublai Khan when he feted his followers. The bottle may hold 3.5 tonnes up to 3,000 liters of wine. It has a circumference of 493cm and 70cm high and 55 cm, depth measurements in the center. The bottle is elliptical wellshaped and recorded everything with clouds, waves, dragons and sea horses. It is the oldest jade object large remained intact in the country.

Another great piece worth mentioning is a jade sculpture dating from the reign of Qianlong in the 18th century. Entitled “Jade Mountain Showing the Great Yu Taming the Flood”, which was carved from a Song Dynasty painting of a similar title. The masterpiece, standing 2.4 meters high and 1 meter wide and about shows in great detail how the Great Yu, a heroic representative of the ancient people work, combating the Great Flood. According to historical records, the raw jade stone, weighing five tons, was discovered in the area of Hotan, Xinjiang, took three years to be transported to a distance of 4,000 kilometers from Beijing, and some more years to be carved and polished to the national treasure it is.

“There is a price for gold, but not price for” jade, “says a Chinese proverb. Jade ware is often described as “worthy of a string of cities.” An ancient story tells how the king of Qin, Zhao once offered 15 towns in exchange for jade around the famous Ho. How is Thai jade is so valuable?

First, its value lies in its scarcity. The gemstones are formed over long geological epochs and are hard to come by, especially of green jade, white jade and agate. Old town in search of treasure had to walk on the back of yaks in mountainous regions to reach the rocks containing the gems uncut, half exposed or exposed to the stamping of hoofs. Sometimes, precious stones were washed away by mountain torrents and took over half of men with the eye and luck. In any case, exposed stone was scarce and people began to bore through the mountains to extract precious stones, making it even harder to achieve.

Second, the value of jade lies in its harshness. Gemstones are divided by their hardness into two major groups: jadeite and nephrite. Jadeite are those who have a solid texture and a hardness of grade 6 or higher (on the basis of 10 for diamond). The most valuable varieties such as green jade, may be as hard as grade 8 or 9. Jadeite are invulnerable to steel cutting tools made of carbonrundum or power of diamonds. The objects of this hard jade are smooth, bright, shiny and translucent, and their grains are no longer visible to the naked eye.

Nephrite, however, being below degree 6 in hardness, in general, can be incised and carved by chisels. Their market values are much lower than jadeite. Third, the value of gemstones is in its natural color and tone. Some are as white as snow, others are bright red, green and more seductively. Diamond, emerald, sapphire and other gemstones can be transformed into personal ornaments like rings and earrings whose color will stay bright all the time. Some estimates have a wide variety of colors that a master craftsman can be used with good results. Even the flaws in the stone can be turned into places of beauty “, for example, an insect on a flower or a small squirrel in a tree, adding life and attraction of the whole workpiece.

Today there are jade workshops or factories in major cities. The work being done solely by hand, has been partially mechanized. Although some operations have become faster with the use of simple machines, however, jade remains essentially an art of craftsmanship. And as raw materials are becoming scarcer, the prices of jade articles is always on trend.