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

Lü Dalin’s Kao ku t’u [考古圖; Illustrated Investigations of Antiquity], compiled in 1092 during the Northern Song dynasty, is one of the earliest surviving systematic catalogues of ancient Chinese objects. It records more than 200 antiquities, principally ritual bronzes but also jade objects, drawn from imperial and private collections. Individual entries generally provide an illustration, dimensions, inscriptions where present, provenance or ownership information, and discussion of the object’s identification and historical significance. Of particular interest to gemologists and historians of jade are its records and illustrations of archaic jade objects, which document how such objects were classified and interpreted by Chinese scholars in the eleventh century. The work was highly influential in the development of Chinese antiquarian studies, combining close examination of physical objects with evidence from inscriptions and transmitted texts. Sinkankas: LU TA-LIN K’ao ku t’u “Investigations of antiquities with Illustrations.” Laufer, Jade, 8, gives “in 10 chapters, first published during the Sung Dynasty in 1092, and re-edited by Huang Sheng in 1753 as an appendix to Wang Fu’s Po ku t’u. In Chapter 8, a small collection of jades in the possession of Li Po-shih from Lu-kiang is figured, but without investigation.” S.H. Hansford, Chinese Jade Carving, 134 (no. 92) includes this work but also notes an edition of 1752 entitled San ku t’u.