gems, jade, China, Chinese jade carving, Chinese lapidary arts, nephrite, yu, jadeite, fei cui

Sinkankas: Extremely handsome production, with beautiful, sharp color photographs of top quality which show, in the introduction, scenes in China and artisans at work, including a gemstone carving shop where obviously modern machinery is being used. There are 34 photos of superbly executed works in hardstones, coral, and ivory for the most part, and of dolls and several others in cloisonné. Most of the carvings are extremely complicated and chosen to show the virtuosity of the craftsmen rather than good artistic taste. Many of the jades, corals, and agates, for example, are marvelously intricate in their branchings and cavitations and were carved utilizing a jade carving technique recently developed in Peking, which probably is some sort of air-driven abrasive that enables extreme complexity to be achieved without fear of breakage, as would be the case if wheel-driven abrasives were used.