The Jade Kingdom

141 Pages·1987·9.505 MB·English

by  Paul E. Desautels (auth.)

THE
JADE KINGDOM
Paul E. Desautels
InmiI VAN NOSTRAND REINHOLD COMPANY
~ _________ NewYork
Every effort has been made by the publisher and author to deter
mine the sources of all illustrations and obtain permission to
reprint them herein. Any errors in this regard are inadvertent
and should be brought to the publisher's attention in writing, so
that correctious can be made in subsequent printings.
Copyright © 1986 by Van Nostrand Reinhold Company Inc.
Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover 1st edition 1986
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 86-5535
ISBN-l3: 978-1-4684-6574-7 e-ISBN-13: 978-1-4684-6572-3
001: 10.1007/978-1-4684-6572-3
All rights reserved. No part of this work covered by the copyright
hereon may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means
-graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, re
cording, taping, or information storage and retrieval systems
without written permission of the publisher.
Designed by Karin Batten
Van Nostrand Reinhold Company Inc.
115 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10003
Van Nostrand Reinhold Company Limited
Molly Millars Lane
Wokingham, Berkshire RG112PY, England
Van Nostrand Reinhold
480 La Trobe Street
Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia
Macmillan of Canada
Division of Canada Publishing Corporation
164 Commander Boulevard
Agincourt, Ontario MIS 3C7, Canada
16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Desautels, Paul E.
The jade kingdom.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Jade. 2. Jade art objects. I. Title.
QE394.J3D47 1986 553.8'7 86-5535
CONTENTS
PREFACE
Vll
1 TRUE JADE 1
2 FALSE JADE 9
3 JADE TESTING 12
4 SOURCES OF JADE 15
5 CHINA'S PRIZED STONE 22
6 CHINESE SYMBOLISM 35
7 JADE IN THE NEW WORLD 75
8 NEW ZEALAND JADE 81
9
SOUTH-CENTRAL ASIA, INDIA, RUSSIA,
AND JAPAN 87
10
JADE IN EUROPE 91
11 CUTTING AND CARVING JADE 93
BIBLIOGRAPHY 110
INDEX 115
PREFACE
Jade towers above all other hardstone carving ma century or two) diamond cutting tools were intro
terials-rose quartz, aventurine, agate, rock crystal, duced into China, or where the high-quality jade
bloodstone, lapis lazuli, turquoise, and the rest-in found in ancient pre-Columbian sites was mined
both long-term popularity and sustained value. In may never be answered. An increasing effort has
spite of its intensive exploitation under widely been made, however, to pull together evidence from
diverse cultures, however, little authoritative work various branches of science and bring it to bear on
on the subject exists in the English language. When the more important questions. At least such erro
texts on jade do appear, they are usually little more neous inferences as the possibility of early com
than quick surveys of some of the more exotic carv merce between China and Middle America have now
ings that have flowed, generation after generation, been laid to rest. Speculation as to the Asiatic origin
from the lapidary shops of China. . of European jade artifacts has died with the discov
Of course, the history, lore, mineralogy, gemol ery of jade deposits in Europe itself. Slowly but
ogy, and art of jade can hardly be comprehended in surely, records of the ancient jade carvings of sev
the ideas "green" and "China": jade has been eral cultures are being improved as the raw data
known for thousands of years, is widely found on yield to continuing scientific study and become more
the Earth's surface, and has been used extensively coherent.
by several cultures. On the other hand, the Chinese Complicating the entire procedure has been one
have had the most to do with it, and the green vari fundamental puzzle: exactly what is jade YF irst of
eties are consistently the most highly treasured. all, the word jade is a gemological term, not a sci
Eventually, Chinese jade carving became almost a entific one. Mineralogical science has only recently
pure art form, using many designs and symbols turned its attention to the chemical and physical
whose meanings are lost in the distant past or have nature of jade, in comparison to the length of time
become distorted in meaning through time. Little jade has been in use. All jade-using cultures have
wonder, given this profusion of carvings-ancient known it as a stone that could be cut and carved,
and modern, primitive and sophisticated, religious was extremely durable, could hold an edge despite
and profane, symbolic and utilitarian, meaningful rough use, and might also be beautiful. At various
and meaningless-that study of (and writing times, one or more of these characteristics was con
about) jade has generally been the concern of art sidered sufficient to justify classifying a stone as
ists, art historians, anthropologists, and archeolo jade. Not until the work of Alexis Damour in the
gists. 1860s was a successful attempt made to identify pre
The systematic study of jade is relatively new, cisely the chemical nature of nephrite and jadeite,
and all sorts of impediments have slowed its devel the two major kinds of jade. Since Damour's time,
opment. Art historians and archeologists have al accumulated analyses, together with field samplings
ways had great difficulty in identifying and dating of new and old deposits and samplings of artifacts
jade objects that, through unscientific collection of known origin, have refined Damour's definitions.
methods, have been divorced from the facts of their Unfortunately, this has been done at the cost of com
origins. Written records, when they exist, are often plicating our understanding almost to the point of
misleading. It is truly amazing that students have impracticality. Recent discovery of the chromium
managed to sketch out a sequence of periods and analogue of jadeite-called ureyite-and the devel
styles spanning thousands of years, despite the haz oping appreciation of jades as rock mixtures rather
iness of many of the details of time and interpreta than as pure mineral entities have tended to
tion. Dozens of questions-such as when (within a heighten public confusion about what jade is.
vii
viii PREFA CE
Whatever the state of current knowledge of jade, of pertinent information about the nature of jade,
the facts are difficult to locate because they are its occurrences worldwide, the major cultures that
badly scattered in obscure publications, and the have made use of it, how they have made use of it,
work of assembling them into a cohesive story is and the technologies they have developed to master
tedious. This book attempts to rectify this disper it.
sion of information by bringing together quantities
THE
JADE KINGDOM
ONE
TRUE JADE
The Ancient Understanding The Present Understanding
No matter how much this or any other book dis • The celebrated name jade has been applied, at times,
cusses it, jade is destined to remain a stone of legend to a multitude of green and near-green (and for
and mystery. It has steeped in the life and lore of that matter, other-colored), translucent, tough
great civilizations for so many centuries that we can stones that can be cut and carved into ornamental
never know all of the virtues, qualities, and powers objects. Throughout its more than 4,OOO-year his
that have been attributed to it. tory, jade has borne a confusion of names, descrip
In thinking about jade, for example, we are un tions, and legends, applied by many generations of
likely to associate jade with music; and yet the mankind. For most of this time, considerable uncer
Chinese long considered jade slabs, cut into a series tainty has existed as to just what kinds of stones are
of chimes, as the ideal source of a distinctively pure entitled to the noble name. It is true that modern
and sweet sound, when struck sharply in the appro mineralogical science supplies us with fairly precise
priate sequence. Noted gemologist George Kunz measurements of the physics and chemistry of ma
states that, when things were not going well, Con terials we now call jade, but problems persist. After
fucius would soothe his nerves by playing the" mu millenia of confusion, no universal agreement has
sical stone." Obviously, as its story has unfolded, yet been reached about which materials were in
the word jade has evoked many different images for cluded in the category of jade in the past, which are
many millions of people. to be considered jade now, and how these definitions
In the Western world, we do not look on jade as are to be established.
having any metaphysical meaning. The persistent Most texts and references simply announce that
Chinese belief that jade is the essence of the virtues jade comprises two mineral species, jadeite and ne
of charity, justice, modesty, wisdom, loyalty, and phrite (tremolite-actinolite). If so, many prized and
honesty has not been passed on to us. And yet, for ancient "jade" objects in the world must be ex
reasons that seem to transcend its market value, cluded because they are neither jadeite nor ne
Westerners have become increasingly fond of the phrite. In addition, many "jade" objects have
stone. A constant procession of carved jades passes proved to be mixtures of jadeite or nephrite (in
each year through the great auction sales rooms of highly variable proportions) and one or more of the
Sotheby, Christie, and others, bringing prices that other minerals with which they normally occur in
attest to this growing interest. nature. Although it seems logical, rational, and sci-
1
2 TRUE JADE
entific that workable definitions can be established Origins of the N arne
-indeed, the laws of modern commerce and trade
require it-the nonscientific, artistic, and gemolog
ical definitions will probably always remain some The origins and conception of the word yu are lost
what loose. Definition, even today, sometimes seems in antiquity. The name jade, howeV'er, can be traced
more a matter of tradition, history, aesthetics, and to its beginnings with considerable certainty. It ev
art than of science. idently first appeared in print in England in 1727,
The Chinese evidently nurtured the confusion in Chambers Encyclopedia. Despite such late pub
about jade from the very beginning. In the most lication, much evidence indicates that the material
ancient Chinese writings where the word yu ap was known in Europe long before it had been as
pears, it has the same meaning as jade and is often signed its new English name.
used loosely in much the same way as the latter term When Marco Polo traveled in the Orient in the
is used today. The term yu evidently included ne late 1200s and visited Turkestan, he recognized the
phrite, jadeite, bowenite, and sometimes ordinary stone-actually nephrite-being recovered from
serpentine, agalmatolite (or soapstone), and even streambed gravels. He referred to it as "jasper,"
marble. In fact, it likely included more mineral spe but he was merely using the name he knew best for
cies in early Chinese times than it has at any time such stones. Jasper remained the name commonly
since. Part of the early confusion of species came used for jade in Europe until 300 years later, when
from the ancient practice of classifying the kinds of Central American jade was brought home by the
yu by color, origin, and other characteristics, rather Spanish Conquistadors. The Portuguese may, how
than by our present-day system of chemical differ ever, have already been using the term piedra de
entiation. mijada (meaning urinary stone, from its use as a
Berthold Laufer, American jade authority of half treatment for urinary problems) for jade imported
a century ago, reported that Li Shih-chen, a great from China before the Spaniards entered the pic
sixteenth-century Chinese naturalist, recognized ture.
fourteen varieties of jade based on color and origin. By the middle of the sixteenth century, Portu
For example, the name fei-ts'ui (meaning king guese trade with China had so prospered that the
fisher) was given to a beautiful green nephrite from Chinese permitted the Portuguese to purchase the
Turkestan. Later this name was revived and applied peninsula at the mouth of tqe Canton River to use
to the emerald-green stone from Burma; the original as a trade center. Here the city of Macao was estab
Turkestan yu thereupon became chen yu, or "true' , lished in 1557. At the time, there certainly existed
jade. By right of priority, then, nephrite-the orig an illicit trade in yu, which the Chinese considered
inal Turkestan type of stone-should carry the very precious for reasons that included its supposed
name jade, and the new, similar-looking but differ healing abilities. In particular, by mere surface ap
ent material introduced from Burma (and now plication, it was thought to cure or prevent kidney
called jadeite) should not. and urinary diseases. The Spanish might well have
Fate and the evolution of language were to rule borrowed the name and reputation of the stone from
otherwise. Present-day, knowledgeable Chinese the Portuguese during this period of bustling trade
(and Westerners, too) now acknowledge both ne and commerce. Nonetheless, there seems to be no
phrite and jadeite as true jade. So it seems that, identifiable reference to jade in the mineralogical or
after centuries of people's not knowing or not car pharmacological writings of Europe before the dis
ing, a decided drift has taken place toward exclud covery of jade in Central America.
ing all other species, even bowenite and common When fifteenth-century Spanish explorers ar
serpentine, in favor of nephrite and jadeite as sole rived in the N ew World, their attention was at
inheritors of the name yu or jade. This still does not tI:acted to the green chalchihuitl objects so highly
resolve the problem that jadeite and nephrite occur prized by the native people. Expecting tribute in
frequently and in highly variable mixtures with gold and (later) emeralds, the conquistadors were
other minerals and that the internal compositions surprised instead to be offered this green kind of
themselves of these two minerals may also vary "jasper.' ,
somewhat without totally losing their mineralogical In an official report on The Discoverie of Guiana
identities. in 1596, Sir Walter Raleigh makes note of "spleen
stone" and "kidney stone," as this jade was then
known because of its use in treating kidney diseases.
Nephrite 3
By Raleigh's time, the Spaniards were already fa locked their secret: they had a different chemical
miliarly calling it piedra de hijada (loin stone) or composition from the usual Chinese jades.
piedra de los rinones (kidney stone). By this time, To one jade, the early Chinese type, Damour as
too, the stones and stories of their curative powers signed the already existing name nephrite, which
had been introduced into Europe. Interestingly, no had been given to jade of the Chinese type in 1789
evidence suggests that the Aztecs themselves used by A. G. Werner, a noted German mineralogist; it is
the stone for curative purposes; that idea evidently a mineral species belonging to a family that present
came from elsewhere. day mineralogists call amphiboles. The other new
In the Latin used in all learned texts of that pe type, comprising the piedra de hijada of the Span
riod, the stone's name became lapis nephriticus iards and Count Klaczkowski's green stones, Da
(kidney stone). In the late 1500s, by which time mour gave the new name jadeite; it is a mineral
Nicolas Monardes, a Spanish physician, and others species belonging to a family we now call pyroxenes.
were writing of the piedra de hijada, the supply
from Mexico had all but disappeared. Nearly a cen
tury after the conquest, the entire known American
Nephrite
supply had been almost exhausted. Existing carv
ings had been plundered, and the natives had lost
personal and cultural interest in the stone. Then, Chemically, nephrite is a calcium-magnesium-iron
carvings made from a similar-looking stone began silicate and is part of the species series known to
to appear in some quantity in Europe from the Ori mineralogists as tremolite-actinolite. Samples of
ent, and these were promptly dubbed piedra de members of this amphibole series theoretically may
ijada or lapis nephriticus. . be found with compositions ranging from pure cal
Belatedly it would be learned that this stone was cium-magnesium silicate (called tremolite) to a cal
not at all the same as the American kidney stone; cium-magnesium-iron silicate called actinolite. Pure
some time afterward, it acquired the name nephrite tremolite is almost white, but in the series different
by which it is known now. Sir Hans Sloane, a fa samples may contain variable amounts of iron and
mous English natural historian, wrote about this thus-even in the absence of coloring introduced by
same piedra de ijada in the early 1700s, but he still mineral impurities-may range from pale green to
called it "green jasper." Piedra de ijada was ab deep green in color. It takes very little iron to give
sorbed into French as pierre de l'ejade, and some tremolite a greenish tint, and the color deepens con
how the French word l'ejade became le jade siderably as the amount of iron increases.
evidently through a simple error in spelling. Le jade Not all samples of tremolite-actinolite, however,
followed the path of many French words into En can correctly be called nephrite. A qualifying spec
glish and became jade. imen must be formed by nature in such a way that
the microscopically fine fibrous crystals of which it
is composed are tightly matted, tufted, and locked
together, producing a compact, extremely tough,
Earliest Jade Analysis
even-textured mass that has acceptable carving, du
rability, and surface luster characteristics. Because
The mystery of the true mineral nature of jade was of these matted fibrous crystals, nephrite is tough
unraveled by Alexis Damour, a French chemist and enough to resist experimental pressures of over
mineralogist, who in 1863 published the results of 90,000 pounds per square inch before crumbling.
his investigations showing that true jade was really Owing to variable amounts of iron and to certain
two superficially similar mineral species. In his impurities often present, nephrite may be white,
work, Damour used several jade carvings that had yellow, green, red, brown, gray, black, or (rarely)
been taken by the English and French armies from blue. As we might expect, the Chinese had many
the Imperial Summer Palace near Peking. The Pal names for the colors of nephrite. Eight names used
ace was looted and destroyed in 1860 as a reaction commonly in the past for some of the more desirable
to the treatment of European envoys in China dur colors are sen, a clear translucent white; cha, a
ing the 1859 T 'ai P'ing Rebellion. Count Kla highly prized opaque white; pi, an indigo blue; pih,
czkowski, who was in Peking at the time, brought a moss green; kau, a yellow; chiung, a cinnabar red;
back to Paris some jade objects of an unusually fine men, a blood red; and haieh, a lacquer black. There
green color that intrigued Damour. Finally he un- may well have been many more such names, con-