The History Behind China's Jade

if you're a fan of art museums like me

then you've probably seen countless

examples of beautifully intricately

carved Jade from China from pretty much

every era of Chinese history few other

gemstones connect with society the way

jade has in Chinese culture

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no why is Jade so important compared to

other minerals and gemstones first

things first there are actually two

kinds of Jade most commonly prized

nephrite Jade and jadeite Jade and for

hundreds of years no one knew that they

were both considered to be the same

mineral but by the 1860s the science of

gemology had improved enough that we

were able to identify nephrite and

jadeite as two different minerals though

they're similar in appearance the two

varieties of Jade have different

physical optical and chemical properties

jade is classified as a rock because

it's typically made of more than one

mineral though primarily composed of the

mineral jadeite

it also contains feldspar and announce

I'm jadeite comes in many colors but

Imperial Jade which is a fabulous

emerald green color thanks to chromium

is the most valued but here's the thing

jadeite isn't the Jade of ancient

Chinese art and culture who told about

lady in fact jadeite didn't appear in

China until the late 18th and early 19th

centuries when it was discovered in

nearby Burma nephrite Jade a totally

different Rock is when ancient Chinese

artisans worked with it was excavated

from the mountains in the Xinjiang

region the jadeite was also found in

riverbeds where it had washed down from

the mountains it was too hard to be

fashioned with the metal tools available

at the time but that's nothing a little

ancient innovation can't handle they

work the Jade with abrasive sand to

shape the gem before generally an

apology

nephrite jade is comprised of silica

magnesia and iron the iron content is

what determines nephrite Jade color the

more iron more green the stone if

there's less iron nephrite can be

colored yellow blue red brown and light

purple you can also find white cream

color Jade sometimes called mutton fat

Jade nephrite fibrous composition makes

it one of the toughest materials on

earth it has the highest tensile

strength of all natural gemstones even

more than some forms of steel it's about

like fibrous structure is so strong you

can't even

fizzled which makes its frequent use in

ancient world all the more impressive in

the West we've historically attached

great religious cultural aesthetic and

monetary value to gold Jay plays a

similar role in China in fact there's a

saying gold has value Jade is invaluable

known as the stone of heaven the Chinese

have cherished Jade for over seven

thousand years the actual physical

properties of the mineral its beauty

toughness and rarity imbued Jade with

moral and philosophical connotations

Jade ornaments were worn by the highest

members of society as well as scholars

to indicate their wise heaven like

nature the word Jade dates back to about

the time when the Spanish began

exploring central in South America the

Mayans and the Aztecs utilized jadeite

Jade to relieve kidney ailments by

literally holding the stone on their

bodies

the Spanish called the Piedra de holla

which literally means stone of the pain

in the side but Jade of course is an

English word in China it was known as

you and that name included both Jade and

other Jade light stones the oldest

indications of humans working with Jade

appear in China around 7,000 years ago

during the Neolithic period around 2,000

years later the earliest examples of the

be discs appear the design that

eventually came to symbolize heaven many

objects found from these very early

years show very little wear and tear so

it's likely they were primarily used for

ceremony rather than as a functional

day-to-day item

be dog shade

during the Shang Dynasty ceremonial

weapons small figures and ritual

ornaments made of jade indicated a

significant advancement in craftsmanship

these items continued to be crafted

during the show dynasty but of course as

eras changed so did the designs

additionally iron tools became more

readily available which made carving

Jade that much easier for artisans

beautiful and intricate jade objects

continued to be created throughout the

centuries Han Dynasty Jade is

particularly admired but by the 18th

century of the modern era jadeite Jade

made its way north from Burma into China

Jade's deep color was quite popular in

the 18th and 19th centuries

Chinese artisans created some of the

world's most beautiful works of art all

carved through Jade Jade figures can be

highly symbolic and each symbolizes

heaven a butterfly can represent a long

life in the Dragon one of the most

famous figures in Chinese art and

culture indicates prosperity and power

jade is still very popular in China and

its appeal is growing in the West

what does jade symbolize for you

personally tell us about it in the

comments and let me visit your workshop

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