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