Jade Jewelry

Singapore and Thailand. Jade was the main attraction. Said a buyer from Taiwan: “I am only here to look at jade, because my customers back home prefer it to other gemstones”. Explaining the Chinese partiality for jade, he added: “The Chinese believe that jade is a living stone; its color deepens as it is worn over time.”

The fondness for jade and jade jewelry stems from an old Chinese legend which tells how an ancient king was once cured of an illness by wearing a jade stone. So many Chinese like to wear jade because of its alleged protective and curative powers.

The fair is divided into two sections. The ground floor features displays of uncut as well as cut and polished gems and jade as well as jewelry pieces —sapphire, ruby or jade rings, jade jewelry, earrings, bracelets and pearls set in gold, with or without diamonds. There are inexpensive pieces for sale such as jadeite rings for US$1 baroque jade pieces for US$3, jade bracelets for US$30 and for

In a later text (c. 280-233 BC), the Han Feizi, there is a story about a man called Bian He, who presented an uncut jade to two succeeding kings, neither of whom believed that the rough boulder really contained jade and had his feet amputated as a punishment. He cried out in despair, explaining: 'I am lamenting not the loss of my feet but for the calling a precious gem an ordinary stone and for the dubbing of an honest man a liar.' The treasure inside was then extracted and polished; the moral of the story is still quoted today to illustrate how hard it can be for some people to recognize excellence when it is hidden under a rough exterior. (2) Joseph Hotung, who has been collecting jades for over thirty years now, has agreed to allow his jades to be

From June to September the British Museum displayed an exhibition of jades jewelry from the collection of Sir Joseph Hotung. This proved a very popular exhibition, and the British Museum is very fortunate that it is now able to devote a whole gallery to Chinese jade, which opened in November 2002. We are delighted that Sir exhibited on a long term loan basis.

The jades are on in the gallery, room 33B, leading directly off the Hotung Gallery of Oriental Antiquities. This gallery is called the Selwyn and Ellie Alleyne Gallery, after the couple who generously funded the refurbishment of the space. This means that there is now a gallery in the British Museum dedicated to Chinese jade, a material which has been associated with the Chinese since Neolithic times and prized by them above the gold and gems we rank so highly in the West.

Sir Joseph's jades are augmented by a few private loans and British Museum jades, together with some comparative material in other media. Jade is still highly prized by the Chinese and we are also showing some twentieth-century pieces to illustrate the fact that good contemporary jade carving still exists in China today.

Jade is a hard and exceptionally tough material, and one line of research is concerned with the manner in which it has been worked and the development of jade carving techniques since Neolithic times. For this reason, at the same time as planning this exhibition, we have also instituted a project in collaboration with our scientific research department. They are conducting an investigation, using optical and scanning electron microscopy, to ascertain different techniques of carving by examining the minute tool marks left on the jades. We hope this will allow a relative chronology for the development of jade carving to be established, perhaps establishing a link between 'style' of carving and 'technology'. The results should also help to establish the date at which objects were carved, a frequent problem in the study of jades. My colleague, Margaret Sax, who is in charge of this project will describe this work later in the article.

When we exhibited Sir Joseph's jades, including carved jade objects in 1995, I wrote about some of the early pieces in APOLLO, (3) so this time I will focus on some later jades. Sir Joseph's collection of jade, with the exception of a few newly acquired pieces, is illustrated and discussed in great depth by Jessica Rawson in the catalogue printed originally in 1995, which has

(4) The exhibition is laid out in a chronological fashion along one wall of the gallery, with various highlights picked out in three cases on the other side: they include a case on the Neolithic culture of the Liangzhu, another devoted to animals and humans from the Han dynasty to the present and a third on the pictorial quality of later jades. (5)

The section on later jades in the chronological part of the display features a jade belt set for a man and a pendant set, probably for a lady. In the post-Han period, jade was widely used for personal ornaments, such as pendants, belt, dress and hair ornaments, jewelry and small objects to hang about the person. In the earlier period of Chinese history, jade played a pivotal role in ceremony and ritual. However, in this later period its significance in such contexts gradually diminished, and it was more important for worldly display than display to spirits in the tombs.
Belt sets were introduced to China from the Steppe area. Gold, silver and gilt bronze examples, comprising a variety of plaques and a buckle section first appeared in the third and fourth centuries AD. These designs were simplified in jade: round or shaped plaques were cut square; openwork or pierced and relief designs were cut as incised lines or simple relief on a flat surface. The constraints imposed by jade as a material did not, however, inhibit its use.

By the Tang dynasty, jade was established at the summit of a hierarchy of materials for belts. Such emphasis on jade was probably in part a consequence of the Tang imperial family's interest in Daoism. Within religious Daoism, jade was used to describe many aspects of the immortal worlds. Once established as the primary material for belts, jade remained at the top of the hierarchy in subsequent dynasties. During the time of our exhibition, 'Gilded Dragons, 1999: Buried treasures from Ancient China', I wrote in APOLLO, about jade belts and various other ornaments which we borrowed from China at that time. (6)

The Tang dynasty complete belt set, belonging to Sir Joseph Hotung, is undecorated; it would have been worn as an indication of rank as stipulated by the regulations of the time, and--since Chinese robes did not have pockets--would have had various implements, including knives, suspended from it. However, it was also very popular during the Tang dynasty, a period of great exoticism in China, when the Silk Route was at its height and there were many foreigners at the imperial court, to decorate such jade plaques with scenes of foreign musicians playing their instruments, and one of these is illustrated here.

Other jades of the Tang or Liao periods, ninth-tenth century, could also be linked with Daoism. A pair of elegant earrings in a brilliant pure white jade are of the luminous quality feted by contemporary poets, but such flying angel figures could be regarded as either Buddhist angels (apsarases) or perhaps jade maidens, inhabitants of the immortal heavens of the Daoist cosmos, where such beings were attendants on the Queen Mother of the West. The stylistic character of the earrings reflects both the influence of Central Asian forms introduced to China from kingdoms further west and their origins in a metal prototype, evident from the fine open work and delicate, incised lines.

For aristocratic and rich ladies, hair ornaments, bracelets and earrings were important accoutrements, and I illustrated several in the APOLLO article of 1999. (7) In the case, together with the man's belt set, we are showing a pendant set, with illustrations clarifying how ladies wore them. We know, however, from various texts of the Tang period that such pendants were worn by both sexes, and that they were symbols of rank. They were prevalent from the Six Dynasties period (265-589 AD) onwards. The color of the jade indicated to which rank its wearer belonged. Thus, the first rank officials wore mountain-dark jade, while others above the fifth rank wore water-green pendants. These ornaments were obviously used both in life and then taken to the grave to show the bureaucrats of the underworld their wearers' status in the hereafter. The Chinese have traditionally always been very concerned with hierarchy and status. Even in the Han dynasty (206 BC-220 AD), they were taking mortgage deeds with them to the afterlife to prove to the officials there that they owned the entitlement to the land on which they were buried. These pendants sets of jade are illustrated on figures such as those found in the Tang dynasty tomb of Princess Yongtai and other tomb murals. Apparently part of the purpose of these sets was also to weigh down the hem of the skirt to prevent it from fluttering in the wind when walking. (8)

Prior to this period jade vessels were probably a rarity ,because of the wastage involved in their manufacture and the difficulties involved in carving thin, curved walls but jade pendants were in fashion. However, during the Tang dynasty some jade vessels were made which copied foreign gold or silver shapes, partly in an attempt to assist those who sought immortality through drinking or eating from such precious jade vessels. They were obviously very luxurious, and ownership implied great wealth and status. Many such metal vessels had been used in Buddhist ceremonies, having been introduced to China by the non-Chinese rulers of northern China during the Six Dynasties period. They were gradually adopted into secular usage by the aristocrats and elite of the Tang period. Cups in jade were thus linked with a search for immortality assisted by jade. The Hejiacun hoard featured in our exhibition 'Gilded Dragons'

Singapore Marina Bay Sands Lavalier Jewelry Shop at Tower 3

Sumptuary laws in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries required that only certain people were allowed to use jade vessels, but many disregarded these rules and most of the surviving jade vessels and numerous jade ornaments date to the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) periods.

There are four main categories of later jade vessels: vessels copying silver or gold forms, as mentioned above; vessels based on ancient bronzes and jades; undecorated cups and bowls in porcelain shapes; and cups with flower like bodies or handles.

This brushpot typifies the pictorial quality characteristic of so many later vessels, which were often worked as if the surface of the jade were a sheet of paper or a scroll to be unrolled. The brushpot is decorated with scenes of rice cultivation and the stacking of sheaves--scenes of farm life. These two scenes can be directly compared with images from the set of pictures conventionally used to illustrate rice growing and sericulture, known as the Gengzhi tu, as shown in the print reproduced here from an imperial album the British Museum has in its possession (Fig. 7). The figures are not placed in exactly the same positions in the print and parts of the scenes have been omitted from the brushpot, as some of the painted elements would have been difficult to reproduce in a jade carving, even one made by as consummate a master as the one responsible for this piece, but it is a fairly faithful translation of its prototype, as is also the case with the carving on the other side). (15)

Both sides of this rectangular screen are carved with mountainous landscape scenes, a setting for the Eight Immortals, legendary figures within Daoist folklore, and the God of Longevity, Shou Xing. The Eight Immortals are said to have lived at different periods and to have attained immortality through an understanding of Nature's secrets. They are divided into opposed pairs, each of which represents the two sides of a different condition of mankind: poverty, wealth, age, youth, male, female and so on. They all have identifiable attributes. (16) Again, the whole composition is treated like a painting or printed image and was probably based on a particular woodblock illustration, such as that from the Fang shi mopu. (17)
The old man holding a fan seated on the top of the tower and platform is Zhongli Quan, the leader of the Eight. Next to him is He Xiangu, holding a peach; and the third figure is Li Tieguai, holding a gourd, from which there rises a long streamer of mist; he is always depicted as an emaciated beggar, leaning on a stick. On the ground to the left of the tower stand four further figures. Reading from left to right, they are: Cao Guojiu, holding a pair of castanets; Zhang Guolao, holding the yu gu, a musical instrument in the shape of a bamboo tube with two rods to beat it; Lu Dongbin, carryiung a fly-brush and his emblem, a sword; and Han Xiangzi, the patron of musicians, playing a flute. The eighth immortal is Lan Caihe, generally regarded as a woman, but sometimes shown as a boy, and seen here on the extreme right, carrying the customary emblem of a basket of flowers. Above the whole scene, mounted on a flying crane, is Shou Xing, the God of Longevity.

As mentioned earlier, establishing the date at which jade objects were carved has so far proved problematical; by contrast, in the case of ceramics thermoluminescence tests have been used for many years. What follows is an account by my colleague in the Scientific Research Department of the British Museum, Margaret Sax, of the work she is doing to try and remedy this situation with regard to jade.

The scientific study of jade follows the successful outcome of an investigation into the methods used to engrave the curved sides of hard stone, quartz cylinder seals in Mesopotamia. These were produced in Mesopotamia and the surrounding areas of the Near East from about 3000-400 BC. Having surveyed the seal intaglios by binocular microscopy, we developed a methodology to study the fine detail of the tool marks using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Detailed impressions of the marks were made with silicone dental resin, and then the moulds were gold-coated so that they were electrically conducting and could be examined and recorded in the high vacuum chamber of the SEM. The characteristics of the tool marks preserved on the seals were compared with tool marks produced experimentally, using a range of techniques, tools and abrasive materials. The method of moulding is particularly advantageous for the study of jade because it allows the deeply carved parts of an object that are difficult to view directly to be examined. These less accessible features would have also been difficult to smooth and polish and often preserve the original tool marks.

In the initial stage of the study, we examined several jades dated stylistically to one of three broad periods in Chinese history, the Neolithic Hongshan and Liangzhu cultures (fourth-third millennia BC), (18) the Western and Eastern Zhou dynasties (eleventh-third centuries BC) and the Ming and Qing dynasties from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century. This has enabled the use of several different techniques of carving to be identified. All are abrasive processes. Howard Hansford described the abrasive powders that were being used by Beijing jade carvers in 1939. (19) These included quartz, garnet and emery which were mixed with water to make a slurry and applied with rotary tools, such as wheels and drills, as well as non-rotary files. Hansford also referred to the use of hand-held pointed tools for engraving inscriptions.

To illustrate the information that can be obtained from objects like those described here, we focus on the tool marks found on a flower and cicada ornament, dated to the Ming or the Qing dynasty, which is a mere nine centimeters high. The overall dimensions of the ornament suggest it was worked from a small slab of jade, about nine millimeters thick. Tool marks relating to the shaping of the undulating surfaces forming the flower and the cicada survive on the highly decorated front and rear faces. The SEM micrograph (Fig. 9)--the scale bars in this and Figs. 10-11 represent 2 mm--is of a mould taken from the surface of the cicada's wing. Our engraving experiments indicated that the fine parallel grooves seen here are typical of those carved using an abrasive slurry with a disc-shaped rotary wheel. An iron or steel wheel was probably mounted on a lathe and rotated by a foot treadle, similar perhaps to the one depicted in a seventeenth century woodblock print, included by Sun and Sun in their translation of T'ien Kung K'ai-Wu. (20) Another SEM micrograph (Fig. 10) shows the incised decoration on the cicada's wing. The curvature of these features, protruding upwards on this mould, indicates they were carved using a very small wheel.

The tool marks molded from a hole pierced through the cicada's wing suggest how pierced features on this and other objects, such as the Tang or Liao earrings (Fig. 2), may have been worked. The SEM micrograph (Fig. 11) shows two distinct features which extend through the thickness of the ornament. On the left, the feature has circumferential grooves, demonstrating that it was worked with a solid drill, about one millimeter in diameter. In contrast, the even narrower features on the right are characterized by faint longitudinal grooves, consistent with the use of a saw to enlarge the drilled hole, in the manner of a fretsaw.

Our examination of this ornament and several other jade jewelry has provided evidence for the use of rotary tools during the Ming and Qing dynasties. However, different characteristics are present on some of the earlier jades, for example, the plaque of a face veil (Fig. 13), dated to the Eastern Zhou dynasty, 770-475 BC. Molded details of the stylized dragon incised on the front can be seen in the SEM micrograph (Fig. 14), in which the scale bar represents 5 mm. The characteristics of the tool marks here show that several different hand-held tools were used in the carving. The generally uneven nature of the marks on the plaque contrast with the even working of the flower and cicada ornament. The present scientific study is beginning to provide evidence for the techniques by which this extraordinarily tough material was painstakingly shaped, carved and polished using abrasive processes to reveal the hidden qualities that were recognized in the raw stone by Bian He.

Jade Jewelry

(1) J. Legge, edited with introduction and study guide by Ch'u Chai and Winberg Chai, Li Chi, Book of Rites: An Encyclopaedia of Ancient Ceremonial Usages, Religous Creeds and Social Institutions, 2 vols., New York, 1967, vol. II, p. 464.

(2) See Wenbo, 1993, no. 2, pp. 47-52, and R. Gump, Jade: Stone of Heaven, New York, 1962, pp. 172-75.

(3) Carol Michaelson, 'Some early Chinese jades in the Hotung Collection and the British Museum', APOLLO vol. CXLI, no. 396 (February 1995), pp. 11-15.

(4) J. Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995. I am greatly indebted to Professor Dame Jessica Rawson for the opportunity of working on the exhibition and catalogue in 1995, and for her inspiration and help in my work at the British Museum before and since that time.

(5) See Michaelson, op. cit.

(6) Eadem, 'Gilded dragons: Buried treasures from China's Golden Ages', APOLLO, vol. CL, no. 453 (November 1999), pp. 43-46.

(7) Ibid., pp. 43-46

(8) See Liu Yunhui, BeiZhou Sui, Tang Jingyi Yuqi, Chongqing, 2000, p. 32; see also Zhou Xun and Gao Chunming, 5000 Years of Chinese Costumes, San Francisco, 1987, p. 121.

(9) See Rawson, op, cit., pp. 79-85.

(10) Carol Michaelson, Gilded dragons: Buried treasure from China's Golden Ages, exh. cat., British Museum, pp. 104-29, no. 70.

(11) Jiro Harada, Catalogue of Treasures in the Imperial repository, Tokyo, 1932, plate L111.

(12) See J. Rawson (ed.), The British Museum Book of Chinese Art, London, 1992, p. 64.

(13) See Rawson, op. cit., p. 399; in the new exhibition, an archaic bronze prototype of the same shape is shown alongside the Qing dynasty vessel.

(14) See F. Ward, 'Jade: Stories of heaven', National Geographic Magazine, vol. CLXXII, no. 3 (September 1987), p. 294; and Craig Clunas in Zhang Hong Xing, The Qianlong Emperor: Treasures from the Forbidden City, exh. cat., National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2002, preface, p. 14.

(15) Rawson, op cit., pp. 406-409.

(16) Wolfram Eberhard, A dictionary of Chinese Symbols: Hidden Symbols in Chinese Life and Thought, London and New York, 1986, pp. 91-93.

(17) Rawson, op. cit., p. 404.

(18) See n. 3 above.

(19) Sidney Howard Hansford, Chinese Jade Carving, London and Bradford, 1950.

(20) E-Tu Zen Sun and Shiou-Chuan Sun, Chinese Technology in the Seventeenth Century, University Park, PA, and London, 1996, p 306, fig. 18-7.

Carol Michaelson is an Assistant Keeper in the Department of Asia at the British Museum. Her research interests include Chinese jades and early Chinese material. She is currently co-ordinating the digitisation of the Department's Dunhuang and related material collected by Sir Marc Aurel Stein, a project funded by the Andrew Mellon Foundation.