TIMELESS JADE

Part Two; A Comparison Of Original Archaic Period Pieces And The Ming Dynasty Dyed Replications Of The Styles Being Unearthed, Studied And Copied, Out Of Reverence By The Literati Of The Day.

Photo Taken with Canon EOS XSI Using EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM Lens

This wonderful example of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 CE) jade dyer’s art shows us the extent to which the Ming Dynasty Masters went to reproduce the exquisite burial examples they were finding from the Archaic Period, and particularly the periods of the Western Han Dynasty up to the end of the Neolithic Period. This Bi is completely free of any enhancements, such as wax or oil, and is in its original hand re-polished state, as it was once a buried item, either funeral or cache, and some natural degradation had occurred. First, we must premise this second half of the article with the fact that in no way do we mean to denigrate the illustrious Smithsonian Institution, nor the pre-eminent Sackler Jade Collection. The Smithsonian Institution and the personnel who work there are held in only the highest of regards by us, and their taking the lead in the diffusionist vs. the separatist  movement, along with all their past, current and on-going research projects, is in our opinion, second to none.  As to the tremendous Sackler collection, housed both there and at Harvard University, as well as other places, we believe it to be one of the most startling collections of all times, their jade collections being held the dearest to our hearts and also of untold millions. However, even in the finest of collections there have been a few mistakes made (and this is not necessarily the case here, but only a possibility), and there are some pieces which are authentic but have been mis-dated, or not throughly understood when first dated. Some extremely famous replications have been acquired by the Louvre’, the great Avery Brundage Collection (see Late Chinese Jades: MingDynasty to Early Twentieth Century by Terese Tse Bartholomew, Michael Knight, He Li), and countless other public and private collections. It is the bane of collecting and happens to everyone who is a true collector. One last thing we must mention before going forward with the article is the fact that we have never, nor will we ever, 100% authenticate or de-authenticate an item from picture alone. We have found in some cases we can give an estimate or a percentage of likelihood of authenticity of an item in a picture, but no more. There are far too many variables which must be taken into consideration for authentication, and both the work of the best replicators and the quality of skills by some tremendous restorers, can not be detected by photograph alone. In our opinion, anyone presenting themselves as an authority on any art form must have the piece in-hand with proper equipment and knowledge to make a correct determination of authenticity. It is solely with this  in mind that we ‘question’  the Sackler Sardine Can-Opener Man, based on anomalies we have seen in the photographs of it over the years, and having been associated so closely with jades and jadeites (both authentic and fake, simulants and dyed items) and especially Chinese jades, Meso-American Jadeites and greenstones for so many years.

Photo Taken with Canon EOS XSi using EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM Lens

The reverse side of the Bi above shows us again the extent of great Masters art of dyeing during the Ming Dynasty period. It was so crucial in fact, that during this period the Master dyer was considered on the exact same level in the jade art hierarchy as the Master Carver — below the top Master designer, with both the Master carver and Master dyer above the lower associates that ‘roughed out’ the design, and from the ‘cutters’ of the original stone, using the Master Designer’s plan, choice of stone, and dimensions. In the pictures above, we can see they had chosen a beautiful ‘creamy’ white nephrite with what is often called a mottled pattern. This mottled pattern is far and away a much cleaner stone than, for instance, most snowflake jades are, in that it is almost 100% pure nephrite with very few trace minerals in it. We know it is dyed black because of the ‘blotter’ look (similar in effect to Ming Dynasty cobalt blue painted onto the raw porcelain bodies of the famous blue & whites of the period), and the lack of dye penetration into the stone in some places, which we see under microscopic analysis. It is interesting to note that in our combined five to six-thousand volume research library, we have never come across any mention of the exact process used in dyeing the jades of the period, and have also never read anywhere exactly what was used to make up these black dyes (although we do expect some walnut pigments were used). It would be nice to see someone ‘take up the torch” on what could well be a fascinating study, and enlighten everyone more on the processes most likely used (though it is my guess many techniques were kept secret by particular families). We have also surmised that this process of dyeing did not just get ‘turned on like a tap’ in 1368 CE, as we have seen pieces that appear older than Ming Dynasty (and could date as early as the Song Dynasty, or before) with what could very well be dye on them, and the practice of using the sacred red iron oxides and cinnabars has been employed since Paleolithic times. The picture on page 94 of Jade – Consultant Editor Roger Keverne, shows the Sacker Sardine Can-Opener Man as a very clean and well-delineated figure with this same type of black ‘blotter effect’ as is seen in the Ming Dynasty Bi pictures above. This is a very peculiar style of appearance when it comes to true nephrite jade, that very rarely comes with the white touching black, but it does occur. The times we have seen this occurrence, the touching lines are mostly sharp and well defined where the high-iron-content black nephrite meets the pure white jade; we will attempt to refer to catalog pictures we know of, and an extremely rare white and black nephrite jade toggle from the Ronald Edwin Prosser collection we are currently in the process of authenticating and assessing (picture to be shown later in this article).

Photo Taken with Canon EOS XSi under 30X Microscopic Power

This photo shows us a great close-up of a portion of the black dyed Ming Dynasty plaque above. If one looks upon the edge of the dyed area, we can see the lack of penetration the dye truly has, while from above it can sometimes appear to travel all the way through the jade. One very easy way to tell if a piece has been dyed is simply to turn it over and see if the color shows through to the other side in almost the same area as it was from above (as jade can have a tendency for the colors to meander through the stone). Another is this sideways viewing, and very often it can be seen straight away in the ‘fading’, blotter’ effect that it assumes.

Photo Taken with Canon EOS XSI Using EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM Lens

This approximately 75% in-situ Shang Period white nephrite jade (Yingyu) pendant is also from the Ang Collection, and shows us a beautifully executed Fenghuang, or Red Bird of the South. Where the lighter areas appear around the false relief designs, and the toes of the bird, are the only places the pendant has been re-cut with more modern tools. When we first received this pendant for authentication purposes, none of the re-cut marks could be seen as the entire pendant was covered in what was most likely a brown shoe polish that had been baked on, and the piece had been buffed on a wheel. This pendant was soaked in acetone for approximately three weeks and then power-sprayed with our hand- held gun under high pressure. All the remaining intruded ‘yellowish’ discoloration in the pure white nephrite is natural to a degraded Shang Period funereal item, and is associated in part with iron, either as a component in the soil surrounding the funereal item, or accompanying burial accoutrements. The darker areas are almost entirely comprised of natural Manganese growth and original soil adhesion to the jade. It was because of this particular ‘look’ of the archaic pieces, that the Ming Dynasty connoisseurs of Jade ( and those who were replicating for profit alone during this period) desired their newly made pieces to resemble the treasured artifacts of their ancient ancestors.

Photo Taken with Canon EOS XSi Using MPE 65mm f/2,8 1-5X Macro Lens at 1X

This photograph of the wing section of the Fenghuang was chosen for its perfect representation of the ‘Loess’ soil, iron-penetration look, as is seen in the brownish discoloration on the tip, along the edges of the wing of the pendant and on the edges of the false relief designs where the penetration is usually at its peak because of the entrance into the porous nephrite from multiple sides. All white portions in this photograph are natural degradation (calcification), as very little of the original nephrite jade surface has survived intact at this stage of burial, with the whitish area at the viewer’s upper right portion of the wing being a ‘chipped’, or ‘sloughed off’ portion of the once more-brownish surface surrounding it. We often see nephrite effected in this manner as we find all different types of structural anomalies occurring with the different types of nephrite jade, even from the same region. Some Khotan White Jades (Yingyu) are more ‘crystalline’, some are more ‘layered’, some are more chatoyant and others are more ‘flakey’, about which we will go into in more depth on our coming article concerning the differing structures and anomalies found in Khotan Nephrite alone. The darkened areas shown here are comprised of Manganese deposits and in-situ burial soil that had adhered to the finished piece during its interrment for thousands of years in a burial environment. In the replications, these ‘deposits’ are now usually glued or waxed onto replicas made from a conglomerate of minerals, with burnt-on sugar or black paint ‘specks’, to represent the Manganese, and the obligatory mud slurry that seems to accompany almost all faked items. When one is viewing a true artifact, these deposits are permanently adhered to the surface, as they literally become ‘one’ with the burial object and resist all attempts to remove them, short of re-grinding the jade or stone object.

Above Two Photos Taken with Canon EOS XSi Under 35X Microscopic Power

In the above two photographs, the 100% in-situ Manganese deposits show up quite clearly at 35X power under the microscope. The tight nephritic fibers of the white Khotan Jade (Yingyu) can also be easily detected, as can some of the now degraded-away tooling marks, to the trained eye. This particular type of Khotan Jade has a very crystalline, fibrous structure and is quite translucent when it is first made and polished, but over the millennia of burial conditions it has now taken on the the intruding iron from the surrounding soils, along with other minerals and organic residues associated with the accompanying soil. It is very easy to detect the lack of modern tool grinding and re-polishing in this same wing area of the Fenghuang, as shown above.

Photo Taken with Canon EOS XSi Using EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

A marvelous example of the coloration most admired by the great Ming Dynasty artists (which closely resembles the Sardine Can-Opener Man on the cover of Volume 5, The Complete Collection Of Jade Unearthed In China, Gu Fang), is this amazing standing figure of a Royal with his feathered headdress and Taotie-fashioned robe with flowing designs common to the Late Shang- Early Western Zhao Period style. We still see false relief common to the Early Shang, but the degree of mastery with the jade medium is starting to burst forth with the beginnings of true relief, caused by the longer process of removal of surrounding material, which in turn, bring out the design even further. We see during this Period (as we do through-out most of the periods of jade carving encompassing the past 10,000 years) that some workmanship was just far superior to others, and can be easily attributed to differing mastery of the subject material, and not just on specific timelines alone. Through the course of history there have always been, during the exact same time frames, those artists which not only stand above the rest in quality of workmanship, but also in innovation of design, and carrying this design through to the finish product. It is surely the reason we see some much later Warring States Period items (unearthed under exacting archeological standards) resembling much earlier Shang Period works, and some Shang Period Pieces that excel in both design and finish, to the point of taking on a much later period’s look and feel. It is through the more constant clues, such as Period Dress and other stylistic attributes, that we can begin to undertake the arduous task of dating an artifact from viewing alone, assisted by having those tremendous research publications that are of true and exacting archeological nature. This fine figure in the above photograph, we would consider to be approximately in 50% in-situ condition, because of the fact that it has been re-polished by hand in the old manner and not just ‘ground away’ as some of the modern re-cuttings and re-polishings we find in our research. Also the Master that first made the piece was truly that – a Master – one who both knew his medium, and with exacting methodology, worked and polished the piece originally in a true work of genius for the Period.

Both Above Photos Taken with Canon EOS XSi Using EF 24-70mm f2.8L USM Lens

The photos above show two lively Ming Dynasty  (1368 – 1644 CE) Dragons carved and pierced in deep relief and made of a beautiful ‘mutton fat’ white jade nephrite from the Khotan area. They rest on a smooth platform, the backside of which is a lightly carved archaistic dragon and symbols. Both dragons are carved using archaistic competing designs so as to show their similarity and yet still be a unique sculptural design of their own. We can easily see the blackened areas on both dragons, and even at this lower power, it is quite apparent that the two were dyed to achieve the total archaistic look and feel of a true funereal object of the Han Dynasty Period. While this exquisite example does not have the almost obligatory wax of most ‘displayed’ jades (all wax has been removed for authentication purposes), we see in the coloration much similarity with the Sackler, Sardine Can-Opener Man. The workmanship of the this plaque and the Sackler pieces is almost identical in the sharpness of the lines. Also, with the deeply pierced underarms on the Sacker Sardine Can-Opener Man we find a similarity to the above Ming Dynasty plaque in the deep piercing. Both the Ang Estate’s Sardine Can-Opener Man and the one represented on the cover of Volume 5, The Complete Collection  Of Jade Unearthed In China, Gu Fang, are not pierced and are merely abraded away to give the appearance and illusion of an arm. While the plaque above does not have any wax or other coatings on its surface, we can tell under microscopic condition that is was lightly polished after some period of burial. Minute bits of abrasive powder can still be seen in some of the deeper areas, lying right next to in-situ degradation that had not been re-polished away. The light re-polishing which has occurred mostly on the surface shows itself to be of age, as no modern tooling can be detected on the surface, which itself is a tremendous example of Mid-Ming Dynasty craftsmanship, in that the original tooling marks can barely be detected and the maker was most assuredly following the tradition of this period with the extreme attention to fine polishing even the smallest of areas, like the tight spirals of the dragon with the bifurcated tail.

Above Photos Taken with Canon EOS XSi Using Ef 24-70mm f/2.8L Lens

These two photos show a wonderful example of a Ming Dynasty black-dyed sword slide that has seen extensive use, as can be seen in the lower picture with the evident wear from the sword contacting the slide to the viewer’s right (and part of an old re-polished chip on the bottom of the jade slide). On the reverse of this slide we see exact wear to the opposite end of the slide, which would be the case with a true worn item. Please notice the original degradation, still unpolished, on the surface of the inside of the slide itself. The inside of this slide is in 100% in-situ condition, has seen no re-polishing and all the original tool marks from its making are still extremely visible even through the degraded and pitted current condition. All of the outer portion of this sword slide has been hand-re-polished many years ago, as no polishing marks can be seen under microscopic power up to 30X, as will be be shown in the picture to follow. As with the other dyed nephrite photos, we find the same ‘blotter’ effect the dye invariably leaves as its ‘hallmark’, along with the tiny ‘hairlines’ the dye tends to take as it is penetrating the jade. The effect is truly a marvelous one and it is easy to see why the Ming Literati would desire its effect so greatly, considering their well-documented passion for not only collecting the old ancestral items, but in wanting their new ‘treasure’ to resemble those with such an illustrious past.

Photo Taken with Canon EOS XSi Under 30X Microscopic Power

A tremendous photograph allowing us to see the thinness of penetration of the dye used as one can see in the upper left corner and on the top portion, representing the eye which has a photographic anomaly of appearing to go inside, or outside, depending of the perspective. In the upper left of the tooling groove and along the bottom of this same groove at the extreme bottom of the picture, we can see the remnants of the original black lacquer that was used by the Master who finished the slide, to help delineate the eye when the sword slide was first presented to its owner. This black lacquer is an addition applied after the jade had been dyed, and survived all the ravages of time, including use, burial, re-polishing, repeated touching and wearing, waxing again, removal of old wax by soaking in acetone for two weeks, and the pressure of our hand held high pressure sprayer (which will put a hole through skin if left for just a couple of seconds). Some truly defiant little pieces of lacquer, to be sure.

Photo Taken with Canon EOS XSI Using EF 24-70mm f/2.8L Lens

A true White Nephrite with Black Nephrite Ming Dynasty toggle  most likely from the early portion of the Dynastic period and possibly from the Yuan Dynasty (1279 – 1368 CE), belonging to the Ronald Edwin Prosser Estate. While I could not get the bottom of this extremely pure mutton fat white toggle to darken sufficiently, the peach form that the black nephritic ‘lion’ is posing upon shows us the stark contrast the true black nephrite takes on while adjoining to the white jade (as can be further seen in the two following macro photographs). While this is a very rare example due to the black nephrite jade being so high in iron content and the white nephrite jade lacking all mineral intrusions which color nephrite, it does still occur in nature. (For other fine examples of this phenomena and its use in the Chinese jade workers art, see Sotheby’s, Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works Of Art, Hong Kong, October 8, 2006, page 277, for a marvelous view of an extremely rare white and black jade snuff bottle, exquisitely carved and inscribed). On the top of the lion in this photo, we see how the black runs through the stone and meets at a sharper ‘edge’ on the white jade. Also on the lion, we can see where the white nephrite is more translucent and absorbs the black coloring from the surrounding black nephrite.

These two incredible photographs above show us in great detail the nephritic fibers of the white jade (top picture) in the bottom right of the photograph, and the iron-rich, brown degradation to the black nephrite in the lower picture. Both on the peach form mentioned above and on the foot of the lion in the top picture, the nephrite fibers can be seen, as can the slight re-cutting and re-polishing the toggle has undergone after burial. Re-polishing marks can also be seen in the lower photograph on the band of white running through the black, and just to the right on the top of the black, on the left side of the picture. The depth to which the black runs can be clearly seen, as can the more linear effect of true black meeting with the white jade.

In closing we would like to repeat that while we do believe the famous Sackler, Sardine Can-Opener Man is rather a dyed Ming Dynasty replication of a true Shang Period Piece, this conjecture is only from observation of authentic pieces we have been privileged to handle and view under exacting conditions, and we have not had the pleasure of examining the Sackler piece in the same manner. While it would be a honor to view it in person and under microscopic conditions, it is our hope someone will re-examine the piece again and let the world know their findings, as all such great collections, from time to time, need to be re-examined in light of new archeological discoveries and new knowledge in the field. We also wish to thank all the estates involved in the writing of this two-part series, for the opportunity to allow us to authenticate, scrutinize and represent their respective items for the advancement of jade knowledge in general, for the benefit of all.

David Fredericks  –  Yulongwei

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