With the exception of a few simple objects like round and flat discs with central holes (called Bi, symbolizing Heaven, and deriving from early sun-worship) and drilled beads for stringing, the earliest jades are prohibitively rare - and virtually all are in museums within China. During the next thousand years, carved animalistic figures appear, and also are so rare they cannot reliably be purchased anywhere in the world except right at a dig site (illegal, and not-to-be-attempted).
Starting about 4,000BP (2,000BC) the population in China was expanding, and with it the demand for and ability to find & transport the raw stone (usually from far away places) to craft centers where fine jade objects were created for the arising nobility. Being a large and diverse land, the Chinese found many raw materials suitable for object creation, all of which were called Yu.
Today geologists have put the different "jadelike materials" at about a dozen. Some do not resemble the others, while a few can easily be confused. But the one "true jade" that everyone agrees embodies the spirit of the ancient culture and has been accepted as the highest expression of fine art is Nephrite jade. It was found in about four locations in the ancient world surrounding central China.
This is the material of ALL of the antique Chinese Jades featured here on our site, unless otherwise noted. (If a serious collector ever wanted to assemble a fine group of ancient carvings incorporating EACH of the various materials once used it would make a unique collection and museum exhibition candidate. The late 90s exhibits at the Guggenheim (N.Y.) and Sackler (Washington DC) highlighted many of these non-nephrite materials favored by specific cultural areas in ancient China. One of our associates might be able to help in that quest. Inquire. Not for the faint of pocketbook, if world-class objects are desired).
During the two millennia before the Christian Era (BCE), many more fine objects were created from jade than earlier periods. They are pricey, but available. Commonest are the Cicada (put on the tongue of the deceased to aid in the "smooth transition to the afterlife"), the Bi (see above), and its consort the Cong (a tube-shape representing Mother Earth), and the small protective elements of a gentlemen's' sword and scabbard (i.e. pommel, guard, slide and chape).
After the Han Period (206BC-220AD), jade demand slackened, and was not reactivated until the Song (Sung) Period (960AD-1279AD). Then, excavation of historical gravesites by the royal family became intense, and many "similar-to-the-ancient" jades, made at that time, became fashionable to "reverently continue the traditions of antiquity". Patronage of the jade carvers by the nobility was active, and competition by these affluent men for the best quality workmanship restored these ancient symbols to places of honor.
Throughout the Yuan, Ming and Qing (Ching) periods that followed, the demand for quality jades in the traditions of the ancients continued - alongside the creation of new forms. For example, the Horse and the Dog are rarely found in ancient jade carvings (although they are memorialized in pottery sculptures), but emerge often from the Song onwards in fine jade.
This reemergence of jadecrafting during the second half of the medievil became an important ingredient in the culture of the Imperial court. Men wore their jades suspended from a waist-cord within their silk robes, and would display them in "competition" with their compatriots. Being a tough and durable stone with a melodious ring, the proud owner would let his jades dangle and tinkle against one another inside his robe, thus amusing him as he moved and alerting lesser mortals to his presence. However he would have to "silence his jades in deference" when in the proximity of the jades of an official of higher rank.
The finest whitish Nephrite is found only in Xinjiang Province (ancient Chinese Turkestan), a distance of several thousand kilometers from the carving centers around Xian, Beijing (Peking), and the Shanghai-to-Hangzhou corridor. It took about a year to make the camel journey, much raw material being lost to bandits, slippery riversides, and the "taxes" of corrupt officials. Because many types of jade were not available at all periods, specialists can often make judgements about the age of a carving based upon the distinctive material used to create it.
After the reign of Qinlong (Chien Lung), 1736-1796AD, China was beset by troubles from afar: the opium trade - which sapped her foreign exchange and enslaved thousands; foreign takeover of Hong Kong and the Treaty Ports; and the advancing imperialism of Japan and Russia regionally and the Western powers internationally. Combined with internal intrigues that left much of the country in the hands of warlords, the movement of fine Nephrite jade from the western lands to the eastern carving centers was much reduced after 1800AD. A drop in quality of workmanship inevitably followed this loss of beautiful stone on the market, and often good antique pieces of simple design were cut up to create finer examples in the honored traditions.
During the 19th century, the importation of Burmese Jadeite into China began in earnest. Mineralogically distinct from Nephrite, it is crystalline with a more glassy hardness and polish than the softer lustre of the nephrite. Called "new jade", "Burma Jade" or "green jade", Jadeite has virtually no historical or cultural significance, but is the preferred jewelry jade of the modern Chinese (who emulate the West in so much of their current culture).
That Americans and Europeans are at the current forefront of the collection and study of the ancient nephrite jade objects is not surprising to me...many cultures in search of modernity lose sight of their roots. It is then left to others to recognize the importance of preservation of that past.
Nephrite is variously called "old jade", "white jade" and "mutton-fat jade". In today's marketplace, the "whitest" antique nephrite carvings bring very big bucks at auction....another peculiarity, as pure whiteness was significant historically only during the 18th century AD, and to a limited degree, during the Song.
BE AWARE that different aspects of jade culture were prominent in different parts of a country so large as China - and at varying times these could change again as new influences were brought to bear on the region (through expanding trade and communication, conquest, and migration of tribal groups). So the summaries offered here (or in any text) are generalizations; many jade objects - or artifacts from all throughout Chinese history - will not fit a neat pidgeonhole. This is one reason why so many scholars in the field disagree about technical details (which dispute broke up the San Francisco Asian Art Museum Jade Conference a few years ago, indefinitely postponing future conferences). That there is disagreement in the field should not deter us from enjoying the beauty, mystery and cultural challenges inherent in collecting antique jades.
After the Revolution (1911AD), anything associated with the old Imperial order was discouraged. Jade manufacture and display again went into decline with only a few older memorialists keeping alive the past traditions. Many fine examples from the Imperial Palace collections were sold abroad to get cash for disgraced nobles and their families (who had plundered the royal treasuries during the confusion of the revolution). During the civil war (1920s onward) between the Communists and Republicans, not much changed or improved. However, after the communist success in 1949, excavation of old sites increased, but much of what was being found in the 1950s and 1960s was smuggled by unloyal regional officials to Hong Kong for private conversion into cash. Many of the excellent collections in the West were formed or enhanced by these smuggled treasures.
Over the past thirty years, as China has opened itself to the world, many authentic objects have found their way to Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, Taiwan and the West. The smugglers have been emboldened by the lack of travel restrictions within China and the loose border controls. But getting caught generally means a trial within 24-hours and almost certain death, so this has served to dampen the activity of some of the politically less-connected smugglers.
Parallel to this smuggling of new archaeological finds has been the emergence of a new group of craftsmen dedicated to copying the ancient jade forms. The markets in Asia and the Chinatowns-of-the-World are filled with a host of imitations. As they have been made on all quality levels, the uninitiated are invariably taken in - whatever their criteria for purchase.
Today there are fewer than a score of true experts in America qualified to authenticate all periods of antique Chinese jade. Many more "experts" are often curators in museums but are only specialists in only a single period of jade manufacture. The honest ones among them have admitted their unfamiliarity with other eras.
For those building a significant collection, only a wide-ranging expert can help you avoid the pitfalls inherent in the marketplace, as Chinese jades are one of the most difficult collecting areas you will ever encounter. For some, that challenge is exciting - as is the opportunity to acquire important cultural objects from the longest unbroken society the world has ever known. That a single antique jade object took 3 to 5 months to painstakingly fashion and can be purchased for a few hundred dollars makes quality antique jades among the finest cultural bargains in the world.