gems, jade, Chinese jade, nephrite, Chinese jade carving

Published by the Art Museum of The Chinese University of Hong Kong for an exhibition organized in honour of Dr. Siu Yee Kwan’s one-hundredth birthday, this catalogue features 388 items of Chinese jades from one of the representative Chinese art collectors in Hong Kong. This bilingual catalogue with illustrations and essays written by Chan Lai Pik shows the many facets of the Dr. S.Y. Kwan Chinese jade collection by six themes, namely Ceremonial Jades", "Naturalistic Animals", "Secular Ornaments", "Scholarly Objects", "Auspicious Rebuses" and "Archaism". The history of art collecting in Hong Kong since the 1950s is also reflected in Dr. S.Y. Kwan’s collecting path."

gems, jade, jadeite, fei cui, Mesoamerica, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Mayans, Olmecs, Aztecs, archaeology, history, archaeogemology, Sahagun, codices, codex

This thesis examines the illustrations of jade in Book XI of the twelve volume, sixteenth century Colonial Mexican manuscript, The Florentine Codex, or the Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva España. The book, a project led by Franciscan monk, Bernardino de Sahagún, records the Nahua world. These pictures of jade do not appear similar to most of the images contained within Book XI, as these are uncolored and use a different model to depict jade. By examining the individual elements of these pictures and the models used for this book and its illustrations, the jade images present a unique insight into the role of jade and stone in sixteenth-century Mexico. Sahagún was commissioned by the Franciscan Order to create a manuscript that could be used as a dictionary to aid the friars in communication and religious conversion with the native population of Central Mexico. He used native assistants trained at the mendicant school in Tlatelolco, where he had taught. By the end of the project, Sahagún was facing pressure from Spanish church and royal officials to end his research on the Nahua culture due to its recording of a pagan religion. The project was hurried and some illustrations had to be rushed. These jade illustrations show the effects of the rush. The artists had to create images that depicted the stone’s appearance without paint. They achieved this task by relying on the pre-Hispanic pictorial tradition. By depicting each jade stone’s appearance in symbolic forms, the illustrators represented both the stone’s physical appearance and metaphorical associations. The three jades—quetzalitztli, quetzalchalchiuitl, and chalchiuitl—distinguish how Nahua society valued differing characteristics of these stones. Importantly, the color of these stones created value and symbolic significance. The illustrations of jade provide a window into the sixteenth-century Aztec epistemology of color. The artists also used previous models from earlier and contemporary natural histories. By combining European and pre-Hispanic pictorial traditions, the illustrators create unique works that aligns best with Sahagún’s goal to produce a book for friars to understand the vocabulary of the native population. These illustrations of jade should be considered as a third text to the Spanish and transliterated Nahuatl, as they best reveal jade’s place within Nahua culture and how metaphors were created and used in Nahua rhetoric.

gems, jade, jadeite, fei cui, China, imperial jade, omphacite

A brief conference contribution on the gemmological and mineralogical characterisation of omphacite jade. Its subject is relevant to identifying omphacite-bearing gem materials and distinguishing mineral composition from commercial jade terminology.

gems, diamond

gems, jade, nephrite, jadeite, fei cui, China, Burma, Chinese jade carving

The Chinese people have honoured, revered and cherished jade for over 8,000 years. Consequently, jade has played a unique role in the development of Chinese culture. Jade carvings survive not simply as beautiful works of art, but also as cultural relics shedding light on the spiritual life of ancient China. Utilising a wealth of archaeological evidence and illustrated with precious artifacts, Chinese Jade provides an introduction to the fascinating world of Chinese jade from ancient to modern times. Yu Ming completed his postgraduate study at Beijing Normal University. He is deputy director of the Beijing Jade Culture Research Center and director of the Jade Collection Committee of the China Collectors' Association. Yu has spent many years dedicated to the research of jade ware and the dissemination of jade culture. Yu has published numerous books on Chinese jade, has participated in the development of a seven-part documentary on jade and has won awards for his work on cultural relics.

gems, jade, jadeite, fei cui, Mesoamerica, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Mayans, Olmecs, Aztecs, archaeology, history, archaeogemology, Pre-Columbian jade; Costa Rica; Maya; exchange; iconography, lapidary

This volume, the third in a series of catalogues of Pre-Columbian art at Dumbarton Oaks, presents the outstanding collection of Aztec, Mixtec, Zapotec, Teotihuacan, and Classic Veracruz sculpture, jewelry, and painting. Four leading scholars present essays on the ancient art and archaeology of Mexico’s Central Highlands, Southwestern Highlands, and Gulf Lowlands as well as extensive catalogue entries of over one hundred objects of jade, shell, fine ceramics, wood, and other materials. The catalogue is richly illustrated with color plates, comparative illustrations, and diagrams presented as black-and-white figures. This catalogue will be an important and enduring reference for scholars and students, as well as an attractive volume for admirers of Pre-Columbian art.

gems, jade, amphibole jade, nephrite, China, archaic jade

An illustrated study of nearly 200 Hongshan jade artefacts, excavated mainly in Liaoning and Inner Mongolia and held in museums and cultural institutions. Colour plates and accompanying discussions document the objects, while captions identify excavation sites and present collections. Provides a reference for comparing Hongshan jade forms and their archaeological provenance.

gems, jade, jadeite, fei cui jade, jade at auction

This sale contained Lot 435, a necklace gifted to one of the daughters of Java sugar magnate, Oei Tiong Ham. The single-strand composed of 30 jadeite beads of uniform size, measuring approximately 13.44 to 13.32 mm., the translucent stones of brilliant emerald green color, some suffused with areas of paler hue, the silver clasp of later date centering a round star sapphire flanked by 2 translucent pear-shaped emerald cabochons, length 19¾ inches.

gems, jade

The Book of Symbols combines original and incisive essays about particular symbols with representative images from all parts of the world and all eras of history. The highly readable texts and over 800 beautiful full-color images come together in a unique way to convey hidden dimensions of meaning. Each of the ca. 350 essays examines a given symbol's psychic background, and how it evokes psychic processes and dynamics. Etymological roots, the play of opposites, paradox and shadow, the ways in which diverse cultures have engaged a symbolic image-all these factors are taken into consideration. Authored by writers from the fields of psychology, religion, art, literature, and comparative myth, the essays flow into each other in ways that mirror the psyche's unexpected convergences. There are no pat definitions of the kind that tend to collapse a symbol; a still vital symbol remains partially unknown, compels our attention and unfolds in new meanings and manifestations over time. Rather than merely categorize, The Book of Symbols illuminates how to move from the visual experience of a symbolic image in art, religion, life, or dreams to directly experiencing its personal and psychological resonance.The Book of Symbols sets new standards for thoughtful exploration of symbols and their meanings, and will appeal to a wide range of readers: artists, designers, dreamers and dream interpreters, psychotherapists, self-helpers, gamers, comic book readers, religious and spiritual searchers, writers, students, and anyone curious about the power of archetypal images.

gems, jade, Chinese jade, nephrite, Chinese jade carving, archaic jade

Among the numerous forms of the wonderful cultural heritage in the Chinese history, jade carving is definitely a unique art style. It is not only the cultural evidence to the historical development of human beings, but also the elegant and valuable artwork. This book is to introduce jade monographs.