gems, jade, China, Chinese jade carving, Chinese lapidary arts, archaic jades

Xu Shouji [徐壽基] (1889) Yü p’u lei pien [Encyclopedia of Jade; 玉譜類編] is a substantial four-volume compilation of earlier Chinese literature concerning jade, published by the Yuanyang official press (源陽官署) in the fifteenth year of Guangxu (1889). Rather than an illustrated catalogue of individual ancient objects like Wu Dacheng’s Guyu Tukao, it is an encyclopedic textual compilation, arranging references to jade under numerous subjects. The four chapters encompass terminology, sources and places of production, physical character, color and lustre, historical allusions, auspicious and supernatural associations, remarkable specimens, astronomy, geography, human affairs, ritual and musical objects, implements, writing equipment, weapons, clothing, architecture, food, natural forms, and antiquities. The original edition was traditionally thread-bound in four volumes and printed from woodblocks, with 11 lines of 22 characters per page; the colophon records that it was printed at the Yuanyang official press in the summer of 1889. It is particularly valuable to the history of jade because it assembles a wide range of references scattered throughout classical Chinese literature, providing a late-Qing compendium of traditional Chinese knowledge, terminology, beliefs, uses, and descriptions of jade.