Chinese jade refers to the jade mined or carved in China from the Neolithic onward. It is the primary hardstone of Chinese sculpture. Although deep and bright green jadeite is better known in Europe, for most of China's history, jade has come in a variety of colors and white "mutton-fat" nephrite was the most highly praised and prized. Native sources in Henan and along the Yangtze were exploited since prehistoric times and have largely been exhausted; most Chinese jade today is extracted from the northwestern province of Xinjiang.
Jade was prized for its hardness, durability, musical qualities, and beauty. In particular, its subtle, translucent colors and protective qualities caused it to become associated with Chinese conceptions of the soul and immortality.Pope-Henessey, Chapter II. With gold, it was considered to be a symbol of heaven. Jade production began in China over seven millennia ago (), yielding the largest body of intricately crafted jade artifacts created by any single civilization. A prominent early use was the crafting of the Six Ritual Jades, found since the 3rd-millennium BCE Liangzhu culture:Howard, 19–22 the bi, the cong, the huang, the hu, the gui, and the zhang.Pope-Henessey, Chap. IV. Since the meanings of these shapes were not mentioned prior to the eastern Zhou dynasty, by the time of the composition of the Rites of Zhou, they were thought to represent the sky, the earth, and the four directions. By the Han dynasty, the royal family and prominent lords were buried entirely ensheathed in jade burial suits sewn in gold thread, on the idea that it would preserve the body and the souls attached to it. Jade was also thought to combat fatigue in the living. The Han also greatly improved prior artistic treatment of jade.Watson, 77.
These uses gave way after the Three Kingdoms period to Buddhist practices and new developments in Taoism such as alchemy. Nonetheless, jade remained part of traditional Chinese medicine and an important artistic medium.
Name
The Chinese word yù "jade; gems of all kinds; (of women) beautiful; (courteous) your" has semantically broader meanings than English jade "any of various hard greenish gems used in jewelry and artistic carvings, including jadeite and nephrite; a green color of medium hue; made of jade; green like jade".Wenlin, (2016). Yù has referred to many rocks and minerals that carve and polish well, especially jadeite, nephrite and agalmatolite, as well as bowenite and other varieties of serpentine. Jadeite is now known as yìngyù (lit. "hard jade") and nephrite correspondingly as ruǎnyù (lit. "soft jade"). The polysemous term yù is used in various Chinese chengyu "set phrases," such as pāozhuānyǐnyù (lit. "cast aside a brick, pick up a jade") "offer banal/humble remarks to spark abler talk by others; sacrifice a little to gain much"—one of the Thirty-Six Stratagems, and idioms, for instance yùlì (lit. "jade standing") "gracious; graceful".
The Chinese character for yu "jade" dates back to oracle bone script from the late Shang dynasty, when it depicted pieces of jade hanging on a string. Chinese characters most commonly combine a radical, such as the "jade radical" or , that suggests meaning and a phonetic that hints at pronunciation. The jade radical frequently occurs in characters for names of gemstones (e.g., bì "green jade; bluish green" and shānhú "coral"), and occasionally for words denoting "preciousness" (bǎo "treasure" and bǎobǎo "precious/darling baby").
History
Jade has been used in virtually all periods of Chinese history and generally accords with the style of decorative art characteristic of each period. Its deep significance in Chinese culture has deemed it worthy of being symbolic of ancient Chinese ethics and ideologies and also representative of the progression of Chinese culture. Thus, the earliest jades, of the Neolithic period, are unornamented ritual and impractical versions of the tools and weapons that were in ordinary use, often much larger than normal examples. These are presumed to have been symbols of political power or possibly religious authority.
There have been several main Neolithic jade working centers. The first known centre is known as the Liangzhu culture (). This centre took place in the Lake Tai District. The jades of this period were primarily small items of personal adornment, such as small discs strung onto necklaces. Typically, the jade was polished on its surface and perforated. Ritual jades and personal ornamental jade of different shapes began to show up during this time period. This religious nature of jade is often evaluated as connections between spirituality and the Neolithic societal structure that jade was produced in.
The second known centre is the Yangshao culture. In the 21st century, a series of jade processing workshops that dates back 5,000 years have been unearthed in Henan province, with two of the larger workshops each covering more than 120 square meters.
The third jade centre is known as Longshan culture and arose in 2500 BC. The centre was situated in China's east coast. The jade objects found in these centres were ritualistic implements, such as axes, knives, and chisels. There is a suggestion of curvilinear anthropomorphic images. A distinctive carving technique was used to create the fine raised relief of the anthropomorphic images.
The fourth known jade centre is known as the Hongshan culture (). The centre was situated in along the modern northeastern border of China. The objects of this centre were typically pendants and large C-shaped ornaments. Realistic figures of fish, turtles, cicadas, and owl-like birds with spread wings were typical carvings of the Hongshan culture.
During Neolithic times, the key known sources of nephrite jade in China for utilitarian and ceremonial jade items were the now depleted deposits in the Ningshao area in the Yangtze River Delta (Liangzhu culture 3400–2250 BC) and in an area of the Liaoning province in Inner Mongolia (Hongshan culture 4700–2200 BC).Liu, Li 2003:3–15 Archeological finds have also unearthed jade objects in this province in the shapes of dragons and clay-molded human figurines, therefore symbolizing the existence of a developed social group along the Liao River and inner-Mongolia. As early as 6000 BC, Dushan jade has been mined. In the Yin Ruins of the Shang dynasty in Anyang, Dushan jade ornaments were unearthed in the tombs of the Shang kings.
The bi and cong are types of objects only found in jade in early periods, and probably had religious or cosmic significance. The bi is a circular disk with a hole, originally usually plain, but increasingly decorated, and the cong is a vessel, square on the outside but circular inside. In later literature the cong represents the earth and the bi the sky.
Jades of the Shang, Zhou, and Han dynasties are increasingly embellished with animal and other decorative motifs characteristic of those times, and craftsmen developed great skill in detailed low relief work in objects such as the belt-hooks that became part of elite costume. In later periods ancient jade shapes, derived from bronze sacrificial vessels, and motifs of painting were used to demonstrate the craftsman's extraordinary technical facility.
In the Zhou dynasty (1122–255 BC), the system of government had been completed and there were varying levels of departments within the government. Buttons of jade were utilized to differentiate the various levels of official society.
Jade was used to create many utilitarian and ceremonial objects, ranging from indoor decorative items to jade burial suits, reflecting the ancient Chinese belief that jades would confer immortality or prolong life and prevent decay. Jade spoons, spatulas, and pestles were used to make medicine in order for the jade to bestow its special virtues onto the medical compounds.
From about the earliest Chinese dynasties until the present, jade was sourced from deposits in western regions like Khotan and other parts of China like Lantian, Shaanxi. In Lantian, white and greenish nephrite jade is found in small quarries and as pebbles and boulders in the rivers flowing from the Kun-Lun mountain range northward into the Takla-Makan desert area. River jade collection was concentrated in the Yarkand, the White Jade (Yurungkash) and Black Jade (Karakash) Rivers. From the Kingdom of Khotan, on the southern leg of the Silk Road, yearly tribute payments consisting of the most precious white jade were made to the Chinese Imperial court and there transformed into objets d'art by skilled artisans as jade was considered more valuable than gold or silver, and white more valuable than green.
Jade became a favorite material for the crafting of Chinese writing materials, such as rests for calligraphy brushes, as well as the mouthpieces of some opium pipes, due to the belief that breathing through jade would bestow longevity upon smokers who used such a pipe.
The Qing dynasty was the final dynasty to gain political power within China, beginning in 1644 until 1911. Emperor Shengzu, who was also known as the Kangxi Emperor, ruled between until 1722. During the reign of the Kangxi Emperor, a distinctive pairs of lions or dogs composed of jade were commissioned by the dynastic family.
Carving techniques The hardness of jade presented an obstacle to those who wanted to carve it and turn it into various objects. In order to quarry nephrite jade, fires were placed next to the jade to heat it and water was thrown against the rock's surface. This rapid temperature change caused the jade to crack and wooden wedges were used to further break it down. However, this quarrying technique also destroyed the jade. The best way to extract jade in terms of it being in the best condition was to remove it from pebbles and boulders that were found in rivers.
Neolithic jade workshops, also known as wasters, have been found in areas where jade usage was evident and popularized. Most evidence of the development of jade technology and tools are taken from wasters and the discards and finished works present in these workshops. From the traces of jade left at these sites, one can see the evolution of crafting procedures from chipping and polishing to more advanced drilling and slicing. Due to the toughness of jade, the chipping and polishing procedures differ drastically from regular stone. The only possible method of altering the shape or texture of this mineral dense rock hasn't seen much change from its introduction to modern day as both times remain reliant on the abrasion method. In order to override the abrasiveness of jade and subdue it to molding, a jade-worker must use an object of higher abrasive factor. In the early days of jade carving, quartz, a mineral with a high hardness level, was the object of choice. At the beginning of the Song dynasty, a time of prolific technology growth, "red sand", with a hardness level of 7.5 became the dominant tool of the industry. By 1939, and once more advanced carving tools had arisen, Peking jade carvers were already using six different types of abrasives: quartz, almandine garnet, corundum, carborundum, diamond, and a medium combining both carborundum and calcareous silt or loess.