TIMELESS JADE

Fredericks-McIntire Collection – Two Western Han Lidded Vessels

Measurements of Right Vessel: 11″ Height X 11″ Width X 4-1/2″ Depth

Measurements of Left Vessel : 8″ Height X 8″ Overall Width X 5-1/2 ” Main Diameter

In the first part of  this three-part series, we will be showing two Western Han Dynasty white nephrite jade vessels that have been part of the Fredericks-McIntire collection for many years. Both of these vessels have been displayed  in an ‘invitation only’ not-for-sale special event presentation during the 2007 Tucson Gem And Mineral Show (along with exhibits from the Smithsonian & The Natural History Museum Of New York, among others). Both of these vessels have also been displayed at all four of the Jade Shows we have held in our gallery, including last year’s Jade Through The Ages Show, and have been viewed by some of the top geologists and jade and jadeite experts in the world; however, with most of them,  not under the microscopic conditions in which we will present them now. In this first part, we will be showing some amazing anomalies of Khotan-Hetian Nephrite Jade, and the start of our hypothesis on the development of what has been commonly called “Chook Bone” or “Chicken Bone Jade”, and has, to the best of our knowledge, never been explained. This will end up as a three-part series of articles, showing different items from our collection (and perhaps other collections we represent, all from a microscopic perspective). This study will be finalized with examples of ‘pure’ chook bone jade artifacts with phenomenal features. We hope you will all enjoy this three-part series and the sharing of knowledge, which has been years in the learning, replete with numerous discussions and microscopic viewings with some of the finest minds on nephrite jade in the world. As always, we would cordially invite any qualified professional to view, or test, any of the examples we will be showing in this series.

Both of the vessels above have been subjected to all our rigorous cleaning methods as will be further explained as we go deeper into the article. This includes one of my own largest, personal mistakes, which can be easily viewed in the last photograph above, and the second one below this paragraph. The white area running across the inside of the large vessel’s lid is evidence that it should not have been shot with such a high pressure water stream as it was subjected to, as it literally blew the degrading nephrite off the vessel around areas of minute cracks and developing chook bone. This discovery by mistake will be clearly examined under microscopic conditions as we get further into the article.

We are going to show the largest and oldest of the Western Han Dynasty vessels first, in this portion of the article. While stylistically, the vessel you see above has many older archaic jade and bronze symbols used in its varying, striking motifs, such as the differing Taotei designs, Chu style Fenghuangs [Red Bird of the South, or Phoenix] on the main sides of the vessel, earlier style dragon-handles and especially the flower design on the top of the lid (we believe this style was actually invented during the Warring States Period, as will be shown in another article of a complete, massive, vessel of the period), we believe this is an archaic continuation of the many diverse and linear developments of design, and will stay with the Western Han Dynastic period in our assessment. While we are talking about a very short time period between the end of the Warring States Period and start of the first Han Dynasties, it is our opinion that the  vessels created towards the end of the Warring States Period were more finely made than the earliest of the Han Dynasty Pieces, as we find the very early Han jades were thicker-walled than the late Eastern Zhou jades, and became thinner and more refined as the Han Dynasty jade carvers progressed in their mastery. We believe this particular vessel to have been created in approximately the 100-150 BCE era. While we were not there when it was made, nor first buried, we feel it is good approximation (unless corrected by the experts who know, and have access to, the larger vessels made in China from both periods).

What the close-up views in the three photographs above are meant to show is a nearly totally hand re-polished (except for the re-cutting of the fine details in the design by machine – to be shown later in the microscopic photographs), original white jade vessel, in which the degrading chook bone and crystalline structures of the Khotan jade nephrite vessel were literally blown away by our high pressure water gun, while I was cleaning the vessel years ago, and did not realize what was happening at the time. I believed at the time that it was removing waxes and soils that had been applied to the vessel to give it that “old look”. We have found these ‘treatments’ on thousands of real and replicated items in our years of cleaning and authenticating real period pieces, and on those reproductions that have been getting progressively more convincing as time goes on and the craft of replicating grows and improves. Both fortunately and unfortunately, neither of the two vessels in this article were heavily waxed – unfortunately because it led to some damage to the vessel – fortunately because it led us (after years of microscopic study) to a couple of never-before discovered (to the best of our knowledge) anomalies that occured both during the formation of jade from this region specifically, and during the differing stages of degradation, and how nephrite jade can heal itself naturally under certain conditions. While we would love to show these marvelous Han Dynasty jades in photographs in their true glory, this is a study of structures and conditions, and must now depart to microscopic photography (remembering the items are open to viewing by qualified professionals and aficionados, by appointment).

We are going keep the various nephrite jades for this three-part series exclusively of Chinese artifacts of archaic Khotan-Hetian Nephrite Jade, and are not trying to slight any of the other magnificent specimens from around the world. But, it is quite obvious to anyone who knows us that we do have a particular passion for the Chinese jades and their 10,000-year uninterrupted fascination and attention to detail like no other culture. We have more articles planned for the future on exquisite specimens and artifacts from around the globe, of both nephrite and jadeite. However, due to the long-term burial characteristics of this particular nephrite, the effects we wish to examine for this article are best shown with archaic jades from the BCE period. All microscopic photographs for this article will follow the same series as the last article, in 10X, 20X and 30X powers, as these are the most common loupe magnifications, and while we will get a wider viewing area because of the microscope and the photographic equipment, similar views can be found by others who are interested in cleaning and observing artifacts of their own. In the above photos, we are simply showing the tightest and most fibrous portions of the large vessel shown above. These photographs were taken in a very lightly polished area on one of the most translucent portions of the vessel. On some areas (as the photos above), the polish goes all the way through to what is mostly the original stone. As some portions degraded more deeply, the hand re-polishing of the vessel only goes into the chook bone effect, and in a few areas, we have complete, through-degradation, in which no amount of re-polishing would show the original, true nature of the jade as it was, over 2,000 years ago. The re-polishing of this vessel, as shown in the photographs above, left very few tooling or sanding marks on the jade surface itself, and was most likely (as will be shown in other microscopic photos) performed in the late Qing Dynasty period, as the surface has been worn smooth, through cleaning and touching of the vessel over years. It was only shortly before we first purchased the vessel that it had been ‘re-mudded’ to give it that ‘special look’ and to bring out the fine details of mostly the Leiwen patterns in the design.

In the three microscopic photographs above, we begin to see the crystalline structures that we so often find associated with the fine nephrite jade of the Khotan region. As was explained in an earlier article, we do believe nephrite jade is formed originally in a more igneous manner than has been thought for years. One of the most knowledgeable people we know on nephrite jade from all regions is Peter Schilling of Taking Form Jade, and falling just short (for now) of agreement to nephrite being of igneous nature (at least in its original state), it is Peter I speak to the most about the multitude of differing structures and anomalies we find in nephrite jades. Such a wealth of information is stored in Peter’s brain, on nephrite jades especially, and other geological matters generally, that it is he I trust the most in sharing what we find from year to year, and he has been under the microscope with us on many occasions (through the newest pseudomorph investigations and jadeite and nephrite crystalline  growths). He is the single most encouraging critic and has always spurred me to go further. As most general (and published) information on the formation of nephrite jade has been “parroted” for over 100 years, most of we ‘jade aficionados’, miners, geologists, and jade artisans who gather during the Big Sur Jade Festival and at our artists’ show every year, keep finding new specimens and anomalies that just do not fit the ‘accepted’ brief description of jades and jadeites. Mr. Kirk Makepeace of JadeMine.com (supplier of two-thirds of the world’s current jade market) has also always been an inspiration, as he has continued to provide us with phenomenal specimens (as have too many others to be mentioned here, but will be, as their specimens get published), which will end up in coming articles, which will be showing under microscopic photography some absolutely stunning new information that has just never before been published. Therefore, when we gather, we discuss and examine some of these anomalies, and the ‘birth’ of new information takes seed (much like the crystalline healing in the Clear Creek Jade article found here, in the archives); more time has to be given to the microscopic study, and seeds of knowledge have to sprout and become explained scientifically. These are new discoveries in both of the jade types, and we will continue to expand upon what we find for as long as we can keep going, but one thing is certain: no one will ever be able to explain it all in one lifetime, as there are just too many anomalies to be found.

As we have many more photographs to come, we will just note here that the area of crystalline growth in the white Han Dynasty nephrite vessel shown above lies just next to the area of the much more typical, nephritic fibered area shown in the three preceding photographs.

In the above three microscopic photographs, we are concentrating on two different aspects of this Han Dynasty white nephrite jade vessel. One is a continuation of the crystalline effect of a portion of the original jade, and the other is the newer re-cutting marks to the fine Leiwen patterns in the design. As many of the finer design elements of true archaic design are ravaged by degradation, they are re-worked so the beauty of the original jade can shine though again, as the long-term burial conditions are so damaging to fine details. In the first photograph above at 10X power, we can see the newer re-cuts of the original design to the viewer’s left. The dark red mud is left over from the cleaning process when I realized I was shooting off ‘chunks’ of the nephrite itself (and backed down on the water pressure). This dirt was mentioned earlier as one of the Chinese ways of making the finer aspects of the designs stand out, and should be attributed more to an ‘artistic license’ than to a deliberate attempt to fool. As mentioned before, this vessel and the other one we will examine had very little wax applied to them, and then only in certain areas where the jade was re-polished down to its original beautiful surface. The dirt we see in the photos above here is only adhering to the original degraded surface of the jade vessel. The other major aspect of these photographs (and the three to follow) is the fact that on almost every authentic artifact we have ever verified, the finest artisans who re-cut and re-polish them always leave areas that are original. Whether larger areas, or smaller ones, they are what tell the true age of a jade artifact and will always be found as the deepest of the tooling marks (while finding newer cuts, one must look further to find the older, original marks, beneath them). To the viewer’s right, in photograph one, you will see one of these untouched areas in the center of the ’rounding’ design. In the following two photographs at 20X and 30X power, we are zooming in on this portion of the vessel which was not re-cut. The difference in the white tooling marks of the re-cut areas, and the portion which was not re-cut, is easily discernible. Some original tooling marks from the Han Period can be seen in the photos above, but others which are more easily discerned will be coming.

In the three photographs above, are again showing a portion of the re-cut Leiwen patterns on the Han Dynasty large vessel, and an area in the center of each photograph which was left untouched by more modern tools. The reason for the later Qing Dynasty re-tooling and re-polishing can best be explained in these areas. First, the whitened tooling marks show no signs of degradation from further burial of the vessel, and are fresh and very white in nature.  Second, the dirt on the vessel has adhered to the old, lightly hand re-polished surface in a way it will not, if it has been freshly applied. Freshly applied mud will wash right off of a re-polished jade artifact (unless any waxes have been impregnated with colorings, or mud, in which case the lengthy soaking in acetone will loosen them up so they can be easily removed). Other coatings used to color artifact jades (and replicas) can be removed in minutes with a soaking in a weak oxalic acid solution, and recent iron-based coatings can be removed with an overnight soaking in bleach (which will also not harm an original artifact). With some coatings that have been baked-on at higher temperatures, it may take a ten-minute soaking in heated oxalic acid (to start to break the bonds), with an overnight soaking in bleach. However, old, truly degraded jade artifacts (and not just fire-burned, or acid-etched, or high-alkaline degraded serpentines and bowenites) will take the dirt into their porous structure over time.

For the next portion of that which we wish to discuss, we must digress a bit to the photographs of the crystalline nephrite structures we find in Khotan Region jades. This unique structural anomaly does not just occur in white jades from the Khotan region, but can be found in many of the varying colors of jade from China (this will be shown in subsequent artifacts in the three-part series). In future articles, we will be showing healed fractures in nephrite jade and the layering that accompanies cooling, but for now in this article, we will concentrate on why we believe these areas of crystalline jade occur, and will be showing areas where they actually mix with the more nephritic structures. What we find in almost all true nephrites from the known sources around the globe is by far the more normal, extremely fibrous, nature of nephrite. As true nephrite occurs in small areas (which is why it is so rarely found), it is formed under fairly exacting conditions, about which there are some marvelous published works that are easily found. What has been considered by only a few people are the causes for the differing structures found in nearly same areas of nephrite deposits. We have heard from some of the top nephrite carvers in New Zealand of some magnificent work which has been done mapping the nephrite fields of New Zealand by Russell J. Beck, and his explanations of why certain specimens in the smaller offshoots of dikes and lens have cooled more quickly and became more tightly fibered. In our opinion, this wonderful work is right on target. It is the same with other minerals showing that the quicker they cool, the smaller the crystalline formation. Our hypothesis on the crystalline structures found in Khotan jades, in direct conjunction with the more typical, tightly fibered nephrite, follows along these same lines and might be able to be definitively proved if the same type of mapping of the nephrite fields were to be undertaken in the Khotan Region. We believe the jade in original Khotan nephrite fields may have been, in some areas, extremely large, and perhaps the largest yet found. A field of nephrite filling a massive lens would, in our opinion, take an much longer time to cool than a smaller plug, or lens area, and could well account for the formations of these crystalline nephrite structures interspersed with the more typical fibrous regions. In many other mineral specimens, it is well known that the longer the cooling period the larger the crystalline structures will grow. [As to the theory of nephrite being more igneous in nature, we have never heard a satisfactory explanation to our question of how extremely rigid actinolite and tremolite fibers (some actinolite we have seen running in straight, glass-like rods a foot long) could have twisted into such tightly seen fibrous structures, as found in Edwards Black jade from Wyoming, USA or the original Cowell, Australian black found in 1972, without being subjected to molten, or near-molten conditions]. The fact that the jades of the Khotan area are still being found in the White and Black Jade Rivers, and the original deposits are still to be found in-situ in the surrounding mountainous regions, should allow someone with the technology and access to be able to map these fields, and perhaps someday this will be accomplished. Also, the fact that these crystalline areas are be found all over the interior and exterior of these and other vessels and artifacts of Chinese jade, leads us believe that they are not just a part of a healing process (as explained in the Clear Creek Jadeite of California, USA article here), but is rather a condition of the entire boulders we see here, from which the vessels were made.

In the three above photographs, we are looking at a portion of the bottom of this exquisite Han Dynasty vessel, which shows wear and original, over 2,000 year-old drilling marks that were never polished out when the vessel was first made, nor when it was lightly re-polished. The degradation to the original drilling marks and the subsequent ‘damage zones’ (explained in previous artifact articles here, in the archives) from the heavier grits used during initial drilling between the Taotei legs, show a portion of the jade which was more fibrous, solid, and has already started the ‘chook bone’ process, which we will begin to explain.

With these three photographs above, we are looking at an area of lightly hand re-polished chook, or chicken-bone jade on the flower-top/finial portion of the lid of this Han Dynasty white jade vessel. It is an area of the jade vessel which is a mixture of nephritic fibering and crystalline structures. The heaviest chook bone effects on the vessel appear on the inside of the vessel (where the water gun shot out portions of the surface, as seen in some of the first photos of this article), and the inside and outside of the flower finial top. While there are other portions (especially around an almost totally broken-in-half section of the lid to be shown, in part, later) of the vessel showing light chook bone effects, it is in the areas which would have held the most moisture, and subjected to this higher moisture concentration on a more constant basis, which appear to have developed the deepest chook bone effects. It appears to have more deeply effected the natural fissures in the jade, the damaged areas, and the more crystalline portions of the vessel. The tighter fibered areas of the nephrite (which also took the finest re-polishing) were not effected by the high pressure water spray gun. So again, as a whole, we find the deepest original degradation to the vessel in the areas where there were either natural fissures or damage from burial tectonics, and the crystalline areas which were not as tightly bonded as the highly nephritic areas. As a consequence of this being a three-part series article, we are just going to start to introduce what we believe causes this chook bone effect (a thick, whitened slime coating) which has never been explained on burial jades (though some have gone so far as to bury jades in dead animals thinking it could have been related to decomposing bodily fluids). As we progress through to the third part of the series, we will have to go to higher magnifications to be able to show what we are about to describe.

In the three photographs above, we are showing an area of deep chook bone effect which was shot away with our high pressure water gun. By being able to split the view above (from the deepest chook bone effect down inside the tight remaining, and unaffected, original nephrite of the vessel, we can see the differences between the surfaces under very low powers. When chook bone jade forms, it is the shiny, whitened, ‘slick,’ surface it creates which truly defines what chook bone jade is. We have, over time, seen all kinds of degradation being called chook bone, and have examined hundreds of these items under microscopic conditions. Sadly, most of them have turned out to be acid-eaten or fire burned jades, serpentines and bowenites. We have read in some of the most respected jade books known that chook bone occurs on differing burial jades from the Neolithic Period clear through to Qing Dynasty burial jades (hence, we suppose, the attempt to bury jade in dead animals), but of the thousand-plus authentic burial jades we have first stripped of their coatings of waxes and brown shoe polishes etc., and examined under microscopic conditions, we have never found a Qing Dynasty piece of jade with true chook bone on it. We have seen it, possibly, starting to develop on old Song and Liao Dynastic burial jades, but under high magnification, it could just as easily be partially degraded mutton fat jade that was used more as a contrast in the final creation (much like the last article  here on the three Late Han Dynasty vessels). The white degradation found on old Ming Dynasty vessels (where it is original and not a fire burnt portion used to quickly degrade an old crack in a restoration effort, and then colored to ‘look old’) we would consider to be the start of the degradation process which could eventually lead to a true chook bone effect, given another thousand-plus years of undisturbed burial, in the right conditions. But, to us, true chook bone is an effect of long-term burial, the finest of it found on archaic burial jades over 2,000 years old.

What we believe we are seeing in the three photographs above is chook bone jade that takes three different conditions to create:  First, we must have the long-term burial of a nephrite jade artifact.  Second, we must have natural degradation from soil conditions starting to eat away at the nephrite jade.  Third, we must have a fairly constant supply of moisture. As we never find this type of effect on items coming from what we would consider drier regions, we believe it is the nearly constant contact with moisture that actually creates the chook bone effect. Remembering that this is going to be a long, three-part series article, we have much further to go and many more examples to show, but the main premise is that as the jade starts to degrade, it also starts to ‘heal’ itself with the constant flow of water over its surface. The moisture entering the degraded jade eventually begins to prompt the original nephrite beneath to begin growing new, minute crystalline formations that start the healing process. New bonds are being created between the components of the nephrite.  This causes the effect of minute particles of the original stone being carried by the water to heal the degrading jade, much the same as a hollow geode will fill with crystals, over time, by the same type of mineral transportation of silicates of quartz intrusion into the pocket of air with which all geodes start. Being a porous stone, nephrite is actually (while still being so tightly fibered it is considered the ‘toughest stone’) a quite reasonable subject material for this type of ‘healing’.  As we have seen jadeite forming pure crystals to heal fractures in a jadeite stone (and we have even more fantastic specimens than were shown in our article here), so will nephrite heal itself under the right conditions. So, the degradation to the nephrite begins first, at its weakest parts, and then the constant flow of moisture over the degrading stone allows the moisture to carry minerals from the original burial object back outward to heal the damage which is occurring. This is what creates that beautiful whitened slime effect (similar to a glassy surface) on the finest of chook bone specimens. In the last article of this series (we always save to best for last), we will be showing such a phenomenal specimen that we don’t believe anyone could explain this effect in a different way, satisfactorily. In the vessel we are showing now, the chook bone is only partially healed, and in some areas more than others – the damaged areas and those with the most degradation seem to be the ones that are taking the longest time to heal, which would make sense because they are being ‘attacked’ and degraded more constantly. These areas were the most ‘blown away’ by our high pressure water gun, as shown in the photos above. Also, almost every burial condition varies from one to the next, in not exactly the same conditions, and we should naturally see differences in the effect depending upon the particular conditions of burial, the amount of moisture present, and the quality of the original nephritic jade.

In the three microscopic photographs above, we are looking at an area of damage on the lid of the large Han Dynasty vessel, which comes within approximately 1/4″ of completely separating to top into two pieces. The fact that it did not break entirely into two separate sections is a great testimony to the resilience of nephrite jade in general, and will be shown in the next section of this three-part article in a much more dramatic fashion (with our Warring States Grey & Blood Jade Vessels [shown on our Antiquities, Plus... web site] which are now totally stripped of all coatings and in their original broken conditions, showing original tooling marks, old repairs and newer repairs). The section you are seeing above is one of the areas described earlier where our high pressure water gun literally blew out the healing jade around this massive old fracture to the lid. The repair we see in the photos above is only in a portion of the original fracture line, and is another reason we believe the re-cutting, re-polishing, and repair to be of late Qing Dynasty time-frame. The break was mended with a clear lacquer repair, and not the later-seen colored rubber cement repairs that were most likely performed in the 1920′s-1930′s era. This will also be highly examined in the next part of this series as the vessels, to be shown have been fixed over different periods. Of note here is the remaining dirt to a high-pressure-shot area, showing that the old dirt put on after the re-polishing did indeed penetrate the degraded nephrite surfaces, and some areas held tighter than others under the same high pressure blasting. These areas that remained would have been some of the more ‘healed’ areas, as the overlying chook bone jade inside the lid (where the invading moisture from burial would be trapped more) had more of a chance to heal itself (even though the fractured jade in this area allowed more degradation damage to occur).

In these last three photographs of the large Han Dynasty white jade vessel, we are showing another area inside the lid which was a portion that still retained its original Han Dynasty tooling marks. The whitened areas are again where our high pressure water sprayer blew the jade out of the lightly chook-bone, degrading and healing area. Above you will see two different types of original Han Period tooling in the more horizontal drilling mark areas, and best seen in the last photo, the more vertical marks (more to the viewer’s left) that cross the drilling marks. These marks would have been left after the initial drilling marks, made with coarser grits, to start to remove the more obvious (at time of manufacture) drill tool swirling marks. It is these coarser grits which end up damaging the microstructure of the jades, resulting in what are called ‘damage zones’ by modern carvers. If not totally removed with each successive use of finer grits, they will leave these micro-damaged areas which will degrade first, and continue to degrade throughout time in a deeper fashion. With the following photographs, we will be showing many of the above-explained effects on another exquisite Han Dynasty creation, and one of our most favorite vessels.

In the above three photographs, we are looking at one of the finest Imperial White Han Dynasty jade vessels we own, and one with some extremely unique characteristics of its own. As we get to the microscopic photographs of this delightful vessel, you will be able to see more of what has been described above, simply because most of these effects show up best on degraded jade of the archaic period. The majesty of this smaller vessel far outweighs its smaller size, and the workmanship, in our opinion, is as fine as any Han Dynasty Period piece could be. The delicacy of design and thinness of the walls is almost beyond belief, and for it to have remained as it has, with no major breaks and only one tiny lacquer-repaired crack to one of the bottom figures which act as its legs, is nothing short of astonishing. To view it in all its glory is a sight many have called amazing (with the truth being, some experts from China that have viewed our collection will not touch a piece if it is older than 2,000 years old but will handle any archaistic jade under that period – as the archaic jades truly were the jades of the old Shamanic Kings and the jades of the Imperial Family). Having been re-cut in some of the Leiwen patterns (as with the first vessel shown) and hand re-polished hundreds of years ago, we do not believe this exquisite vessel has ever seen re-burial, and if it did, it would only have been for a very short period of time, such as during the unfortunate occupation period by Japan. This vessel came to us years ago, and has been displayed at seven different shows, with no professional ever questioning its authenticity. The fact that all the re-cutting and re-polishing were accomplished much earlier than the first vessel, will be apparent through the microscopic photographs, as will its genuine age of being, what we believe, one of the finest later Imperial White Western Han Dynasty vessels ever produced in any size. Approximate age would be 100 BCE.

In the two photographs above, we are looking inside of the vessel itself with backlighting from a flood light, at different distances. There are places on the sides of this vessel that are only approximately 1/8th of an inch in depth. A few fine hairline cracks show up under such viewing, but have held together for over 2,000 years. Most of these cracks have probably developed from minute weaknesses and fissures after its removal from its original burial site, as they have no real degradation, or side-to-side penetration of deposits. After this article is completed, we intend to oil both of these vessels well with a mixture of coconut and camellia oils, as it is so dry here in the desert, and these oils will help to both seal the vessels and penetrate the jade slightly to protect it from further splitting. We prefer this method over waxing as it can be removed with acetone in seconds, leaving no residue, and permits re-verification by any prospective scientist or interested party (the larger vessel shown first in this article can easily be re-polished in the blown out areas and look like nothing had ever happened to it, if left to a professional to do the work – we will leave it as it is, other than the oiling, for verification purposes). In both of the photographs above, we can see through- degradation, original tooling marks (with the naked eye), original burial soils penetrating the chook bone area, and the iron oxides of the red portion, which is an intrusion into pure white nephrite jade from an external source of either iron-rich soils and surrounding high-iron-content boulders from when the jade lay in the White or Black Jade River area, or iron-rich soils from the burial area, or both. We would say, after examining this item for years under microscopic conditions, that it would more likely be both.

In the first three microscopic photographs at 10X, 20X and 30X powers, we are looking at the back of the Chi Dragon on the vessel lid. What we wish to show in these photos is a section which encompasses most of what we have shown with the first Han Dynasty vessel. The photos above show a portion where an old, approximately Ming Dynasty period re-tooling meets an area where there has never been any re-cutting. We can see again the crystalline structures in this section of the jade vessel which start to appear in Khotan jades after long-term burial. The natural degradation and soil inclusions also become very clear (and get much more defined in later microscopic photographs). The crystalline structures we are seeing in these jades (and the other colored Khotan jades which will be in the following articles) are not the same as the extremely defined high acid- and strong alkali-degraded serpentines the replicators use when reproducing old Neolithic pieces. The linear platelets that show up on these types of replications with serpentines would fill the entire photo area at the 10X level. The ones you are seeing in these photographs are extremely minuscule and completely associated (bonded) within the true white nephrite itself. They become more defined over long term burial conditions as minute particles degrade away and tiny pieces are lost from the original carved jade. These structures can be discerned in ‘pure’ specimens of white nephrite as tightly-woven, interlocking crystals and fibers that take the abrasion of cutting and polishing almost exactly the same as the more fibrous areas. They are extremely dense and are an integral part of the nephritic jades of the area. They are also the portion of the jade that is easiest to penetrate by iron oxides, and after time and degradation, soil intrusions. It is in the iron-oxidized shallow grooves at the top and bottom of photo one, and at the bottom of photos two and three above, that we find the old re-tooling marks so reminiscent of an original Ming period re-cut. They are always extremely smoothed out, showing none of the fresh, white re-cut marks of the later periods. This is from repeated touching, reverent handling, and cleaning of the vessel over years of time; had it been re-buried, these marks would start to show degradation on their own (which they do not now, over the entire re-cut and re-polished surfaces of this vessel).

This exquisite vessel above is a mixture of the finest translucent white nephrite, mutton fat white nephrite and the iron-oxidized, intruded red into white in both types. In the three microscopic photographs above, we are looking at an area in the most translucent portion of the nephrite and seeing the typical nephritic fibering which occurs in this unique jade. As we are both proving age and structures in this three-part series, it is of particular note, in the three photographs above, that this jade vessel shows absolutely no new, fresh tooling marks or polishing attempts. While the approximate Ming Dynasty re-cuts are extremely visible, we only see worn re-tooling marks, and the masterfully re-polished original Han Dynasty tooling marks in the tightest areas of the jade, which will be shown in subsequent photographs. The ‘undercut’ areas of the nephritic fibering, shown in these photos, are one of the most telling indicators of an old jade that has been touched and cleaned, as the salts and acids from human touch, along with the rubbing from years of cleaning, is what wears away the softer portions of the re-polished nephritic surface, leaving it with this more ‘pitted’ look.

With the above three microscopic photographs, we are showing of area of the re-cut Leiwen patterns on the Han Dynasty white jade vessel. In the first photo above, we can easily see the re-cut areas and the smoothed grooving which comes from the touching and cleaning of such marks over time. In the middle of the first photograph, there is also an original Han Period tooling mark that was left untouched, as can be seen best in the following two photos at high magnification. In the last photo above, we can also see the end of an original Han Period tooling mark which was left when the master who re-cut and re-polished this vessel was doing his work. This is an area that is both a nephritic and crystalline combination, and as such, it shows the degradation well to the original surface of the vessel. It was extremely lightly touched during the re-polishing efforts, and leaves us with conditions to view which could be considered almost in-situ. There are other areas to be shown in the remainder of this article that are even more ‘in-situ’, and show what we love to see the most – a beautifully restored jade vessel with original tooling marks, degradation and burial deposits.

In the three photographs above, we are looking at an area of the wing on one of the beautifully accomplished Fenghuang (or Red bird of the South) handles of the main part of the vessel. This particular area of the reddened, iron-oxidized Fenghuang handle is best shown in the second photograph of this article, on the viewer’s left (but the bird’s right) wing. What appears to be a tree root track filled with manganese is actually a deeper original Han Dynasty polishing mark that was never fully polished out originally. At the time the vessel was made, this mark most likely did not show up in its finished glory, but rather is due to the ‘damage zone’ effect described earlier here, and in other previous articles. This old tooling mark is indeed impregnated with manganese deposits, and lies in a non-re-polished area of the vessel. It is an area which, being both nephritic and crystalline, received the most iron oxidation penetration and degradation, which may have led the master re-polisher of this vessel to consider it too fragile to touch. It is an area where ‘chook bone’ has developed over the original polished surface, and shows both degradation and the healing process we have mentioned earlier. When we get to the final article of this three-part series, we will be going to higher powers under the microscope to show both the degradation and the healing process that has been occurring, and will continue to occur, over time.

The three microscopic photographs above are in a well polished area of the Han Dynasty vessel, free of any waxes or coatings of any kind, and are intended to show a transitional area where the unique crystalline formations found in Khotan-Hetian nephrite jade meet and mix with the more commonly-considered fibrous nephritic structures. We have not seen this type of unique structure in any other of the thousands of nephrite jade specimens (not even the sometimes ‘flaky’ Siberian white nephrite) we have looked at from around the globe, and consider this to be one of the key identifiers of  some of the types of jades from this region. Granted, not all artifacts of jade from this region show this unique structure, as it can not be found on many small, toggle-sized artifacts, and certainly not all of the Khotan jade fields produced this exact type of material. Some of the plugs and lenses would surely have been smaller, and some areas would have originally cooled differently, and had a mixture of different minerals involved, but as promised before, we are going to show other large and different colored nephrite jades, from this same area, with the exact structural formations in the follow-up articles. We also believe that this is one of the main reasons Khotan jade always shows a higher thermal conductivity than any other jade we have ever tested (and we have performed literally millions of these tests on different specimens). This concept will be elaborated upon further as the articles progress.

In the three photographs above, we are looking at a portion of the hollowed-out bottom of the vessel, which was left in almost total in-situ condition when the master who restored the vessel, hundreds of years ago, worked his craft to perfection. The original Han Dynasty tooling marks are extremely hard to see in these photographs above because of the angle needed to photograph the in-situ manganese deposits, but they are there, nonetheless. These original marks arc across the entire area and are very shallow-appearing (which they are not on the rest of the bottom) because the original degradation and burial deposits almost entirely cover them up. We can again see the crystalline structures which allowed more penetration of the iron oxides and the burial detritus which still adheres to the thin chook bone in this area. To see this area under the actual microscope is indeed a pleasure (as are both of the entire vessels in this article) as one can move the vessel around under any power desired and zoom in on literally thousands of areas on the bottom alone. It is not an overstatement  to explain that to view either of the vessels in this article under high magnification will leave a person almost speechless.

In the last three photographs of this Part One of the three-part series, we are showing a different area on the left (bird’s right) wing of the Fenghuang than what was shown earlier. This area is the tight, small curl of the feathering at the uppermost portion of the wing. It was, most likely, another area considered to be too delicate to re-cut and re-polish by the master who re-worked this vessel so long ago. In the curl of the wing, in the first photo above, we see an area of dark matter that was completely unaffected when the vessel was soaking in acetone. This is original Ming dynasty wax (which was most likely a bees-wax with a smaller molecule than modern petroleum waxes) which was used to protect the area that was so highly degraded that the master re-worker of the vessel decided to leave it alone. This old wax is similar to the same Ming Dynasty wax as shown on our Ming Dynasty Rhinoceros Horn Libation cup on our Timeless Artifact web site. It is so old and adhered after hundreds of years that it has essentially become a part of the vessel itself. This old style wax does not whiten and shoot of with our water gun, as it has solidified to such a point, and adhered itself to the original degraded and chook bone jade, that is has become one with the jade and can only be scraped off with a sharp instrument, along with the degraded jade itself. We have decided to leave it in place, as we believe it is an important part of the entire vessel. Also seen above is another old tooling mark from the Han Dynastic Period which has been left alone and is filled with original deposits. Inside the original red, iron-oxidized curve can also be observed original Han Dynasty period tooling marks and developing chook bone jade. As promised, there is much more to come in the following two parts of this series, to which we hope you all look forward to viewing in ever more detail.

In closing, while we consider all of our articles and photographs to to be copyrighted, we have no problem with qualified professionals carrying on further research with the concepts and theories we present. If there are those with better resources and equipment who wish to further the spread of knowledge concerning artifacts and nephrite jades, we believe this is better for the entire understanding across the world. Also, as this web site has been, from its inception, open to the public, with no advertising or mailing addresses sold, please feel free to sign up in the subscription section for notifications of further articles published.

All full photos taken with Canon EOS XSI using Canon Ef 24-70mm f/2.8L Lens

All Microscopic photos taken with Canon EOS XSi under microscopic power

David Fredericks — Yulongwei

Timeless Artifact

Timeless Jade

Your email:

 

Steve & Kathleen Martinek Collection

Former: Fredericks-McIntire Collection

Measurements Center Vessel: 12″ Height X 6″ Width X 2-1/2 ” Depth

Measurements Left Vessel: 10-1/2″ Height X 4-1/2″ Width X 2-1/4″ Depth

Measurements Right Vessel: 10-3/4″ Height X 4-1/2″ Width X 2-3/4″ Depth

These absolutely exquisite Later Han Dynasty Vessels (206 BCE – 220 CE) were most likely originally crafted for the Imperial family, and show all the traits known to the later Han Dynastic master carvers of nephrite jade. All three were crafted from the same large ‘mother stone’ as can easily be detected in their similar colors, translucency and patterning of the already degrading, purposefully chosen, white ‘mutton fat’ nephrite that flows throughout each of the vessels. We have never examined a set of archaic jade vessels so intricately and masterfully carved, with such attention paid to the exacting details and finish as the three featured above. While the common cut-off point for archaic jades lies unofficially at the 2,000 year-old mark, we believe these vessels were made in the later period of the Eastern Han Dynasty, as the workmanship, while still retaining some design aspects of the earlier Warring States Period and the Western Han Dynastic period, exhibit new design features not found in the older styles. In the largest vessel, we find the familiar ‘spiral patterns’ (also known in China as ‘tadpole’ patterns) as the main motif on the side panels, with a more archaic style Leiwen pattern around the top portion of the vessel and on the bottom edge of the lid. The motifs for the dragon handles are of a type of later Han style, while the dragon on the lid is also a type seen from the early Han Dynasty, and with its drilled, curling tail, even into the Warring States Period. In the left vessel we see a flower motif, on both the lid and the two handles, with exquisite piercing and attention to detail rarely seen in earlier time periods. The flowing flower patterns on the outside panels of this vessel are lightly incised and yet fluid in appearance. On the right vessel, we find the lid motif is of a very delicate Red Bird of the South, or Fenghuang (Phoenix), but we have Elephant style handles, similar to the Eastern Zhou Period, yet far more advanced stylistically, and more than rival the wonderful elephant and dragon handles of the Ming and Qing Dynasty periods. We consider these exquisite tooling efforts a furthering of the aforementioned design features and a most definite sign of continued advancement in the unbroken line of innovation, which started in China and continued unabated for at least five to six thousand years prior to when these vessels were made. For this reason, even though they may fall slightly into the CE range, we still strongly consider these magnificent vessels to be archaic, and not archaistic in nature. These vessels could well be some of last phenomenal, final advancements, stylistically, that were ever produced during the original period of uninterrupted Chinese genius which truly defines the archaic period of jade carving mastery.

Having an extreme, in-depth knowledge of these vessels, as they were originally in the the Fredericks-McIntire Collection for years prior to their sale, these were one of the first sets of archaic jade vessels we had ever acquired, and were subsequently among the first large archaic jade items we had cleaned throughly so we could better understand the damaged areas that were visible under the last repairs and coatings. Unfortunately, we did not take photographs of the vessels years ago, before we cleaned them, but as this will be another specific, in-depth article showing the ancient degradation, tooling marks, and repairs to these magnificent vessels, we will be able to show with the accompanying Macro and microscopic photography, the sequential ages for different burial periods and repairs. These three vessels have been shown at all four of our previous jade exhibits, before thousands of viewers, including our last Jade Through The Ages Show, and have been viewed by many of the world’s finest jade and jadeite geologists, aficionados, miners and some of today’s finest modern jade sculptors. As with all true masterpieces of  archaic jade, these vessels have taught us much over the years, and indeed continue to teach me even more every time I view them under microscopic conditions (just as they did again while preparing this article). Even though we will do our best to portray some of these fabulous nuances in this article, they can only be truly studied, admired, and appreciated to satisfaction in person.

With these three different photographs above, we will be explaining more of the marvelous nephrite specimen components, unique design elements and structural degradation, damage and repairs that occur to authentic ancient jade items which have been burial artifacts on more than one occasion. These are just some of the areas we will be exploring in depth with the Macro and microscopic photos to come, and even though this will be the longest single article we have ever produced here on Timeless Jade, and with the most photographs, we well could have made it much, much longer, as there are literally thousands of unique areas on each and every one of the vessels. In the first close-up photograph above, we can see the same type of flowing flower motif as on the vessel with the flower lid, but the most impressive portion of this vessel is, to us, the incredible mastery of the design elements of the elephant handles. The treatment of these handles, an almost ‘gargoyl-ish’ style, and the profuse detail created by this master carver of ancient jade, is in our opinion nothing less than astounding. Some of the world’s finest modern carvers have also commented on this aspect, and the exquisite beauty of the flower handles, with their deep piercing and wonderful curling petals, calling them masterpieces of the ancient art. In both of the shorter vessels, we start to see particular aspects of Buddhistic influence beginning to appear as well, in both the flowers and the lotus blossom panels on the bottom of the vessel with the Fenghuang top, and the lotus petals on the top and bottom of the vessel with the flower top. As we will start to see with much more clarity in all the Macro and microscopic photographs to follow, the depth of degradation and types of original tooling marks still to be found in some places on the vessels will help to lead us securely to the archaic dating. In the second photograph above, we find an area on the flower-lidded vessel that shows an old repair (which would not come off with acetone and high pressure cleaning), but not the oldest repair, by far. This area was probably repaired with a lacquer glue, and in a rather quick fashion, to hide a further cracking of the vessel from a different period of extended burial than the earliest ones we will be showing later in the article. In the third photo above, we find an area of one of the flower handles which has the look of a mutton fat jade to the petal itself. This is part of the nephrite component which was purposely chosen by the master who picked this particular specimen from which to create all three vessels. It should be of no surprise to anyone with a basic knowledge of the history of jade carving from the Neolithic Period clear through to modern days in China, that the original “Stone Of Heaven” has always been used to show off its many different characteristics, and to highlight these wonderful differing structural qualities in the masterpieces of old. Yes, the White ‘Imperial’ Jade (whether mutton fat or translucent) has been desirable through different parts of China’s history, including the Han Dynasty, but throughout time, the Chinese seemed to prefer other aspects of the stone, and especially the striated and rarer characteristics that jade presents, and which, through every age, have been admired and revered. This particular nephrite stone must have been chosen for the flowing, translucent, light celadon colors running through the already-degrading white nephrite. Because of the uniqueness of its character and the power such vessels would convey (this incorporation of naturally degrading white nephrite into important figures and vessels has been well established  during the Han Dynasty), these vessels must have been extremely cherished items when they were first made. We will be doing an article this Fall showing an exquisite Han Dynasty Horse in our collection made just this way, with green and degrading white jade.In the three Macro photographs above, we see at 1X, 2X and 3X respectively, an extremely old, dark, red-lacquer-repaired area on the bottom of the flower-lidded vessel. This area shows all the true, original degradation which has occurred to the jade since the early Han Dynastic period. While the earliest re-cutting marks can best be seen in the first photograph above (as the upper  two lines to the left of the lacquer-repaired crack, and the lowest line to either side, below the chipped-out area lying to right of the old lacquer repair), the original (middle) line crossing the repair is much more degraded, as this area (as in all successive re-cutting and re-polishing attempts) must have been considered too fragile to re-work. Because of the natural degradation to these re-cut areas of the design, we know the item had to have seen long-term re-burial, as we will show in many successive photos. As this is one of the group of oldest original repairs (of the several different time-eras during which   these vessels have undergone repairs), we would consider them to have been performed sometime between the Song Dynasty to very early Ming Dynasty period, with the earliest dating more likely, in our opinion. This deep degradation has occurred in one of the original lightly- degraded white jade areas, as described above, and subsequently endured the greatest degree of natural breakdown of the nephrite components.

With these three Macro photographs above, taken at 1X, 2X and 3X respectively, we are looking at the latest black-lacquer repair, estimated to be in the late Qing Dynasty or early Republic Period (please note the silica, or quartz temper added to the lacquer in all three photos). It is in an area at the bottom of the flower-top vessel, as seen in the first photo, and shown in the close-up photograph in the fifth photo. At the bottom of the vessel, this crack meets up with the older repaired crack (shown in the first set of Macro photos), and this side most assuredly runs cross-grain to the natural flowing structure of the jade, best seen in the first photo above. The three photos here are of a place where the naturally occurring degraded white jade meets with a much harder mutton fat white jade, and adjoins to the translucent celadon (also, seen best in photo one). This area could be a re-cracking of the original that just needed additional repair, but much more likely was part of spreading crack that had continued, following the initial trauma shock which caused the vessel to break in the first place. All three vessels will be shown to have had the same massive trauma breakage and original repairs at an early date. Subsequent repairs were needed at differing times because the first damage must have precipitated additional hairline fractures which continued to grow after later burial, further shocks, and the expansion and contraction effects of freezing and thawing. All modern jade artists know of these natural fracture zones in almost all nephrite, and have to assure they cut and work the stone so as to not cause too much vibration to these natural areas of chatoyancy, or risk cracking the nephrite while working it. All three of these vessels are extremely thin-walled and deeply hollowed, which upon burial, put them immediately at extreme risk of damage over long periods of time. The fact that most of the major fractures in all three vessels cross these naturally-occurring fracture zones in the jade, tells us much about the type of sideways force they had to have endured to break the way they did. Whether by earthquake, falling beams of wood in the tomb, or some other violent event, something caused all three vessels to fracture at a point in time long ago (and most assuredly they would have been originally placed in close proximity in the first tomb). Under microscopic conditions, the fracture, as shown in the area above, came from the same shock inflicted on the other side of the vessel, but probably developed fully at a later date than the one shown in the first Macro photos. The degradation following the fracture lines is less on the side above, and is not all accounted for by the solidity of the stone (even in the more naturally degraded white portions of this crack, there is not the degree of degradation as seen on the other side).

In the two photographs above, we are looking at the ancient dark red lacquer repairs on the vessel with the fenghuang lid and the elephant handles (the lighter red coloring will be explained later in the microscopic photographs). When we first received these three vessels, they were covered in the obligatory mud that seems to be a mandatory treatment on anything restored in China. We suppose it is a cultural thing, and has to do with artistic license on the restoration of truly authentic items, much as it does in the final preparations of total replications. Under this mud, we found new red coloring which came off quickly in acetone. What remained after spraying with our high pressure water gun was all original. However, in this article, you will see bits of remaining newer wax (and what it looks like after being in acetone) and a tiny piece of the last fake red that was put on the vessels (as a sort of ‘dressing’ under the mud) in some of the microscopic photos to follow. In the first photograph above, we see the original red, cinnabar-stained lacquer-repair to the top rim area of the elephant-handled vessel. These were extremely beautifully-repaired cracks when they were originally done some approximately 500-1,000 years ago. In the second photo above, we are looking down into the same vessel and seeing the cross-grained cracking which had to have occurred from a violent shock, as nephrite just does not break this way naturally, and because of its very fibrous nature will not crack at all (even moving up to the surface from 30 miles below, where it forms) unless it is subjected to massive tectonic pressures. All of these vessels were originally masterfully designed and prepared so that all the natural fissures ran vertically – this would make the core drilling and the snapping-off of the cores (to prepare the insides for the finishing process) much easier, and would not have damaged the vessel under the low vibrational turning-and-snapping-off of the cores in the original-style drilling. If the stone had been worked with the grain going ‘sideways’, the pieces could not have withstood the process; ancient Chinese masters knew of this for millennia before these vessels were made. To manifest the type of cross-grain cracking we see in these and other photos to come required a massive amount of pressure (even on these thinly walled vessels), and the fact that they held together attests to the marvelous ability of nephrite jade to hold up under such enormous stress. Any other type of stone, such as quartz or even jadeite, would most likely have shattered to pieces under such pressure, but the nephrite jade vessels held together so repairs could be made and the exquisite examples still be shown almost 2,000 years after their creation.

In the three Macro photographs above (taken at 1X, 2X and 3X), we are looking at a portion of the largest vessel, with the dragon motifs, taken near the bottom of the vessel as seen in the first two photographs of this article. The entire side of this magnificent vessel was originally almost totally translucent, light celadon in color with a beautiful, partially-degraded white mutton-fat, elongated area to the viewer’s left. It must have originally made a stunning finished piece with this mutton-fat counterpart and the larger mutton-fat area on the opposite side, contrasting with the translucent light celadon. Some of the tooling marks seen in all three photos above are re-cuts, and some of the tips of these re-cut designs are original. What we find most fascinating about this area is the way the massive shock broke this section of the vessel horizontally, while the rest of this vessel broke vertically. In fact, it is the only one of the three vessels that broke completely, and was restored originally from two pieces. The vertical break on this vessel is so ‘clean’ and was repaired originally so tightly with the old dark red lacquer glue, that it was impossible to tell it was there until the vessel was cleaned. The original impact point seems to be just to the right of the pictures above and was what caused the clean, full, vertical break and the horizontal fracture running off from it. The point-of-impact breakage will be shown in the following three Macro lens photos. As can be seen in the first photo above, this area was where the white mutton-fat jade met the celadon (as seen in the top right corner of the photo). Also of note is the spreading, brown degradation to the original break, best seen in photos one and two above. This means that the vessel lay broken, and the degradation to the crack had been picking up soil intrusions in the shattered area of the less-tightly-fibered, partially-degraded mutton fat portion of the original stone, for a long time before the vessel was first uncovered. This is only produced by extended time in burial conditions, as is all the through-degradation seen on all three of the vessels. We have never seen this type of deep, through-degradation on any item from the Liao or Song Dynasty, and certainly never from the Ming to Qing Dynasty. Degradation occurs in true burial objects from those periods and will vary with soil conditions and moisture content from the burial area, but after viewing thousands of specimens under microscopic conditions, we have never seen deep, through-penetration except on true archaic pieces. This authentic through-degradation can not be achieved by the modern replicators using even the most caustic of acids or alkalis, and certainly not by fire burning. The black spots in the old dark red lacquer repair are the start of manganese growth, building up on top of the old lacquer glue repair, and are another indication of an extremely old repair (as will be explained with further microscopic photographs).

In the three Macro photos above (taken at 1X, 2X and 3X), we are looking at what we believe is the main impact spot that caused this vessel to break in half and send the side-fracture off horizontally. My personal belief, after studying these vessels over the years, is that some sort of earth tremor had occurred in the vicinity of the original burial. This earth tremor caused the vessels to fall over on their sides, and whatever struck them caused all three vessels to break at that time, or after another not-too-much-later earth tremor. All three vessels show the major impact was to only one side of each vessel, and the extremely delicate lids were not damaged during the impact. If all three vessel had indeed fallen over prior to the impact, the lids would have fallen off, as all such vessels have extremely shallow grooving into which the lids fit. This would explain the damage to the vessels, and not the lids, because they were no longer standing upright. If they were standing upright, the major damage would have occurred to the tops of the vessels, as we have seen on other archaic vessels we own (some having their entire lids replaced, most likely during the Ming Dynasty period). (Some of these other types of vessels and the natural damage they incurred will be brought to light in future articles here on Timeless Jade). In the three photographs above, the main impact point occurred in the center of the large vessel in a place where the jade was all tightly-fibered, translucent, light celadon, progressing to a darker celadon. The piece we see in the middle is actually a chip out of the vessel from the impact break, which was recovered and lacquered back into place during the original restoration. The re-polished portion seen in the first photograph above is part of the last re-cutting and re-polishing efforts from approximately the late Qing Dynasty era, as some remnants of white re-cutting marks still show in some of the re-tooling of the spiral, or tadpole, motifs on the side of the vessel. Some later tooling marks (most likely modern era) can be found in a few places, most notably of the ‘feathers’ on the dragon handles, but these are minor touch-ups and very few exist on any of the vessels. The great majority of re-polishing marks over all the vessels have the smoothed, aged look of hand re-polished late Qing Dynasty jade, with natural wear evident since the vessels were last re-polished. In all three photos above, we can see the obvious re-tooling marks, yet in the center piece, which was repaired, we find original degradation to the stone and original tooling marks in the curl of its spiral. The thinness of the original vessel is shown beautifully in the final photo above, where the lighting caught it just right, and the through-degradation can also be seen just to the left of the chip in the whitened, degraded jade. Also of note are the small areas around the cracking that have long ago begun the iron oxidation process of turning the light iron-impregnated celadon jade to a more red iron oxide color (as not all the red is from the old red lacquer glue – best seen in the last photo). These vessels most likely came originally from a fairly dry area such as North-Central China, due to the lack of extensive iron oxidation on the vessels (which would have been more the case in a wetter burial area). Without actually being there, one can never know for certain, but sometimes it is fun to speculate.In these last three photographs taken with the Macro lens at 1X, 2X and 3X respectively, we are looking at old cinnabar wax that was applied to the vessels when they were first repaired with the original red lacquer glue hundreds of years ago. Initially, I believed these darker cinnabar coatings to be part of the original construction of the vessel, as it has been well-documented in the old Neolithic Periods that mercury sulfides (mostly unique to China) and iron oxides have been put into tombs on old burial jades, and indeed rubbed into and still remain on the jades and other stone items carved during those periods (the iron oxide coatings have been documented all over the world on differing artifacts, and from a suffusionist vs. diffusionist standpoint, during exactly the same time periods). (Additionally, we have another set of white Han Dynasty vessels which also show bits of original red cinnabar on one of the vessels). However, I now believe these old cinnabar coatings were added during the time of the first repair, the original vessels having been devoid of any coatings, showing only their original decorations. What we are seeing in the above three photographs will be explained better when we go to the microscopic photos to follow, but we now believe these were added to off-set the red lacquer repairs and draw the eyes away from the repaired cracks. Much of this original application of red cinnabar has since been subsequently worn off and never replaced after the vessels were recovered from their secondary burial, after initial repair. In the photographs above, we are also looking at a very tight section of the mutton fat portion of the jade, and what true, exquisite, “old polish” looks like, devoid of any artificial waxes or other unnatural coatings.

In the first three of the microscopic photographs above, we see the area on the large dragon vessel, which was broken in half, at the upper part of the vessel itself, where the crack runs through the Leiwen pattern. All you see in these photographs is original tooling marks and original degradation to the once-perfect, tightly fibered light celadon nephrite jade. The old, dark red lacquer repair can be seen in the first photograph at 10X power – the second photo at 20X power and the third at 30X power (we will be using these three different powers throughout the rest of this article, except where noted). This portion of the vessel shows the old mastery of how lacquer repairs were so exquisitely performed and re-joined back together. It also shows why we have never seen a glue that is so versatile and long-lasting, that even extended soakings in acetone or years under additional burial do not break down the bonds of this phenomenal substance. We have pieces we have soaked in acetone for two months or more, and they come out of the acetone looking just as they did when they went in. On this portion of the break, it was such a ‘clean break’ that they only had to apply the lacquer-glue to the surface of the crack, and then apply pressure. In other areas, like the top of the flower- lidded vessel, they had to spread it over the growing cracks, and the old red lacquer penetrated the already slightly re-polished, degraded jade (which is what we saw at the top of the aforementioned photograph above); this is why the entire area of repair remains, to this day,  stained with the red coloring. More on this effect will come in following microscopic photographs.In the above four photographs, taken at 10X, 20X, 30X and 45X microscopic power, we find one of the only fully matured manganese crystalline growths on any of the vessels. This portion is on the large, dragon-lidded vessel, just to the left of the horizontal crack that developed along with the vertical crack through the entire vessel. This minute manganese growth lies inside one of the spirals, just to the far left edge of the vessel, and is another reason we believe the burial area to have been somewhere in the North-Central part of China, as it is a drier area and we rarely find any manganese on pieces associated with this region. While looking at many items from the Hongshan area, we rarely find manganese growths, and when we do, they are almost always extremely small like the one above. The area above is in almost ‘in-situ’ condition, and has barely been touched by any of the restorers that have worked on these vessels. Under microscopic examination, the entire area around the one photographed above shows no signs of re-polishing or additional coating of the red cinnabar waxes. It lies in the area of the originally lightly-degraded mutton fat jade, and is extremely pitted from long-term burial. The tooling marks are original to the period when the vessel was made (estimated at between 100-200 CE). The red areas we do see in the photographs are a condition of the white mutton fat jade being penetrated by iron oxides, either before the stone was first cut or during its long internment in burial (but most likely the earlier). The dirt seen inside some of the tooling marks in the spiral could be of an age from the subsequent burials, but due to the cleanings these vessels have endured, we believe this adhered dirt is at least from the secondary burial, somewhere between 500 and 1,000 years ago. Only in the left of the first photograph above can we see some of the remnants of the old red-lacquer repair glue, as this vessel never received the red cinnabar treatment the other two vessels have undergone (particularly the one with the elephant handles). The most likely reason for this is that this larger vessel was never cracked as much as the smaller vessels were, and mainly had only the full fissure running all the way through it, and the small horizontal crack which flows into the already white portions with red-oxidized areas, which can be found on all four sides, and the inverted foot on this vessel.

In the above three microscopic photographs (shown at 10X, 20X and 30X power), we are looking  at one of the top curls, coming off of one of the dragon handles on the large vessel. This is the only other small original repair to this vessel, as this portion broke off most likely during the initial trauma many years ago. The bottom tip of the degrading mutton fat jade dragon handle had broken off sometime in the past and was never repaired, but only smoothed by re-polishing. The small piece that had broken off must never have been found, as one of the restorers just shortened the tail of the dragon on the other side to match the length of the broken one. The degradation to this area is most likely secondary, as it is not as deep as is found in other portions of the celadon jade, and adds to our conclusion of a lengthy secondary burial. Natural Ming Dynasty degradation of burial jades can easily reach the degree we see above, but usually we would find it coming from a wetter area than where we believe these vessels derived. However, we do believe this surface was re-polished originally, and left alone during the third re-polishing of the vessel (most likely during the late Qing Dynasty). An original ‘starting’ drill mark can be discerned just on the inside of the lip in this curl above. These occur as the initial drilling is usually a bit more unstable and the drill ‘walks’ a bit as the hole is started, only to stabilize more as the hole gets deeper and there is more jade mass around the drill bit. The drilling techniques used to originally make these vessels was very refined and masterfully accomplished, for their age.In these last three microscopic photographs of the large dragon motif vessel, we are looking at the tail portion of the dragon which adorns the top of the lid. The spiral tooling which made this tail was accomplished by very careful drilling, and has been noted on pieces dating from at least the Eastern Zhou Period, but the technique probably goes further back to at least the Shang Dynasty (as will be shown in a future article soon). What we are seeing in the above three photographs has been explained here in other articles, and in our last article on old beads at our Timeless Artifact web site. These spirals are first being formed with coarse grit, used to create the deep grooves into an already ‘roughed out’ design. If these coarse tooling marks are not completely abraded away in the polishing process, they will leave unseen marks at the time of first construction because the coarser grits damage the micro-structure under the surface of the nephrite jade. As the jade degrades, it is these damaged areas which receive the most penetration by water, and are therefore more susceptible to the ravages of expansion and contraction, due to freezing and thawing conditions. Thus, they will continue to degrade in a manner that often allows them to still be detected even after original polishing and subsequent re-polishings, at a later date with finer grit material. In all three photographs above, these original drilling marks can be seen at 10X, 20X and 30X power respectively.

In the four photographs above, we have a full close-up view in the first photo of the area in which the three microscopic photographs were taken. These photos were all taken on the flower-lidded vessel of one of the exquisitely pierced flower handles. This is the side in which the white, partially degraded, mutton fat jade was first incorporated into the design. The red staining on this flower is due to the cinnabar waxes being added hundreds of years ago and penetrating the degrading mutton fat jade. Its full coating having been long lost, what we see here is the remnants that have penetrated the more porous sections of the white jade. On the other side of this vessel we do not see this type of penetration on the tighter grained celadon jade flower. Even while being worn off naturally and by at least one subsequent re-polishing in the late Qing Dynastic period, the penetration went deep and still remains today. Also, some portions of the mutton fat colored jade are tighter-fibered than other parts and do not retain the coloring, as it never could penetrate as deeply as it did in the already slightly degraded portions. In the microscopic photographs above, we are looking inside the center hole of the flower at the original drill tooling marks, and the way they have degraded over extended burial periods. Some minuscule manganese crystalline growths can also be observed in the microscopic photos, and are best seen in the third photograph above. Again, this hole is one that most likely was re-polished during the initial repairing of the vessel, but not all the old tooling marks were completely removed during this process, which led to the penetration of the cinnabar-based waxes into the more porous parts of the jade.In the four photographs above, we are showing the full, close-up photo of the flower-lid, and three microscopic photographs of the hole drilled inside the flower, on the lid of the vessel. The top, full photo shows just how fine the light celadon portion of these amazing vessels was. The translucency and flowing aspects of this phenomenal creation illuminate the delicacy and mastery of the finest work in the later Han Dynasty period, and explains why these types of vessels have been copied, to one degree or another, ever since the original Chinese masters effectively set the standards for almost all jade carving achieved by the later Dynasties. In the three microscopic photographs above, we can again see the original drill-tooling marks, only this time defined by dirt residues that have adhered to the inside drilling marks from its earliest burial. While other portions of the lid and vessel had been re-polished and coated from the damage that had occurred during the initial burial, and the secondary repair and re-polishing, along with the last modern ‘touch-up’, the hole in this amazing flower lid was left untouched during all three of the restorations of which we have evidence. The lid on this vessel alone reminds us of the finest delicate works of the Liao, Song, Ming and Qing Dynasties. It is truly a sensational piece to view all on its own, and when coupled with all the other magnificent works on all three of the vessels, they truly become a ‘tour de’ force’ of the late archaic period. As mentioned earlier in this article, they can only be fully appreciated when viewing in person and under controlled microscopic conditions.In the three microscopic photographs above, we are looking at one of the extremely damaged areas on the lip of the inside rim on the Fenghuang-lidded and elephant-handled vessel. This vessel sustained the most damage of the three in the initial trauma event which was explained above. The small area above shows where five to six minuscule cracks all come together at the top of the lid, and were originally red- lacquer-glued together in the first restoration. The bright red spot (best seen in the last photo to the left) is all that is left of the modern re-coloring agent which was under the mud when we first acquired the vessels. The whitish, cloudy areas around the cracked portion are the remnants of the modern wax that covered everything except the exterior mud , which had been recently applied and came off immediately with soap, water and a toothbrush. The wax had turned white (as all newer waxes do in the acetone) and along with some minor recutting of some of the spirals and some of the Leiwen patterns on the large dragon vessel, show the only attempts to work on these vessels during modern times. In the cracked area above, we again see the original red lacquer repair used hundreds of years ago, and the old tooling marks left from smoothing this area, once it had been glued back together. It is easy to notice in the last photographs especially, the wear these old tooling marks have undergone, and while not original to the making of the vessel, still attest to the old age of the repair. The pitting of the original jade (under the red lacquer repair) at the top of the first photo above, exactly matches the pitting and wear  we see inside the Fenghuang lid and the flower top lid.

In the last four photographs above, we have the lid in the first close up photo, of the Fenghuang, elephant-handled vessel, and three microscopic photographs (at 10X, 20X and 30X) of the different tooling marks found on the ‘feathers’ of the Fenghuang , in just one area. While the entire lid of this exquisite vessel is as wonderfully worked as the last flower topped vessel we were looking at, in these closing photos we will be concentrating on the feathers of the Phoenix as they are where the most crucial aspects for dating and authentication can be found. The lid itself is a fine mixture of tightly-fibered mutton fat white fade and extremely translucent celadon jade. All three of the microscopic photos above come from the exact same area of design on this bird. In the first photograph, we can see the white mutton fat jade more clearly, and the areas where the feathers are worn all the way through over time and re-polishing. In the second photograph, we can see (with the light dimming) a more light-celadon coloring, but our main focus is on the tooling marks that made the feathering. In the upper portion of the photo, look for the minute remnants of an original tooling mark; others can also be seen in the first microscopic photograph as faint lines just above the bottom one in the more whitened area. In the second microscopic photo above, most of the lower feather tooling marks were re-cut when the vessel was first repaired, and have semi-polished over time. However, the top two cuts to the right in this second microscopic photo at 20X power were not re-cut, and must have been deemed deep enough to leave alone by the master restorers of the period. In the third microscopic photograph above, taken at 30X power, we can see the extreme difference in the four ancient re-cut feather marks, and the one they missed; the second cut mark from the viewer’s right. This tooling mark is original to the lid, and shows much more natural wear and pitting along its edges. Also, right under the two feathers, just to the left of the original one, when looking down inside the edge you will see original tooling marks left from the piercing and smoothing of this area of the tail on the Fenghuang.

In closing, this most amazing, matching set of Eastern Han Dynasty vessels is truly a marvel of the master designers’ and carvers’ art of the late archaic period. To have been able to work with these pieces over such a long period of time has been a joy and an honor, and a learning experience that never ceases. So many more fine photographs had to be edited out to make this article of readable and enjoyable length that it is a bit of a shame, but then, there were thousands more that could have been taken. We hope you enjoyed this article.

Full photographs taken with Canon EOS XSI using Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L Lens

Macro photographs were taken with Canon EOS XSi using Canon MPE 65mm f/2.8 1-5X Lens

Microscopic photographs were taken with Canon EOS XSI under microscopic powers indicated

David Fredericks — Yulongwei

Timeless Artifact

Timeless Jade

Your email: