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Types of Stones and Their Characteristics

There are some jade and stones that we knowof value in the cure of diseases affecting
very less about them. The natives of Newthe  kidney.
Zealand sometimes use these stones for making
figures of human and even articles likeAncient jade objects of various shapes were
axe-head. These stones had never failed toused for ceremonial purposes and many of them
surprise and delight the craftsmen andhave been excavated in modern times. They
collectors  alike.have received much attention from scholars
and are rarely to be seen outside museums.
Jade  and  other  stonesThe Chinese jade that is most likely to be
found by the collector is seldom older than
STONES from comparatively hard jade to thethe eighteenth century. Being a hard stone it
aptly named soapstone have always presented aacquires few signs of wear, and with the
challenge to the craftsman. Whenever theyChinese habit of copying the designs of
were to be found in suitable size and shapeearlier days it is not easy to determine the
it was an invitation to the lapidary toage of many specimens. Large pieces of
attempt to fashion them into works of art.undoubted age can be very costly, but small
The comparison between a rough natural stoneexamples of less certain vintage may be found
and the result of careful carving andfor  no  more  than  a  few  pounds  apiece.
polishing never ceases to surprise and
delight the onlooker. The finest specimensThe so-called 'Mogul' jade is usually of a
barely indicate the skill and patience thatpale grey-green colour, carved very thinly
contributed to their finished form, but aand often with pierced decoration. Some was
brief study will show why the Chinese andinlaid with gold and precious stones, which
others revered jade and why Europeansseem to acquire an added fire against the
attempted  to  rival rock crystal with glass.background of the limpid stone. The Mogul
jades were made in India, but were esteemed
Jadesufficiently by the Chinese for the Imperial
workshops to have a department where work in
The Oriental mind has woven a wealth ofthis  manner  was  produced.
legend into this stone, which varies in
colour from pale grey-green and lightThe natives to make axe-heads and ornaments
lavender to a deep green that is almost blackused a green nephrite found in New Zealand.
in some lights. Geologists into two distinctOf the latter, the 'Tiki', a
types divide it: jadeite and nephrite. Theferocious-looking distorted human figure,
latter is slightly less hard and under arepresents the Maori Creator who 'took red
microscope it will be seen that 'inclay, and kneaded it with his own blood'.
cross-section the fibers have cleavage cracksThese pendant talisman are flatly rendered,
intersecting, not at approximately 90°, asand usually about three inches high and one
in jadeite, but at 120°, and there areand a half inches wide. Specimens some nine
numerous other differences . . .' However,inches in height are known but are very rare
few, if any, collectors attempt towhen so large, and collectors should beware
distinguish between the two, and describeof  modern  copies  of  them  in  all  sizes.
them  both  as  jade.
Pieces of these stones nicely carved and
The stone is alleged by the Chinese to havepolished can fetch a high price for
been forged from a rainbow in order to makecollectors. The beliefs that some of these
thunderbolts for the God of Storms, and it isstones possess magical and curative
also the traditional, although surelyproperties made them all the more expensive.
unpalatable, food of the Taoist genii. ByBut their dates are very difficult to verify
most of the nations of antiquity it wasbecause the Chinese often copied from the
regarded as possessing magical and curativepast designs making it all the more difficult
properties; not only was it looked on also asto identify.
a symbol of virtue, but it was supposed to be



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