Exquisite Two Dragon Cup With Pseudomorphs

Liao to Ming Dynasty Period

6 Cm Height X 13 Cm Width X 7 Cm Depth

Ronald Edwin Prosser Estate Collection Two Dragon Nephrite Jade Cup

Pseudomorphs Showing On Inside Of The Two Dragon Cup

We have chosen this phenomenal Nephrite Jade Cup, from the Ronald Edwin Prosser Estate Collection, to demonstrate not only the archaistic beauty achieved by later Dynastic carvers, but also to point out some aspects of Burial Jades which, to the best of our knowledge, have not been written about at length, and are outside the mainstream of common knowledge on the subject. While we will, throughout the article, be making references to other well-known jade authors, collections and museums, it is not our intent to harm, chastise, or berate in any way the marvelous pieces or authors and researchers involved. It is our intent to help add to the knowledge bank, and to do our part in furthering the research on Jade and Jadeite from both archeological and geological standpoints. We shall also attempt to show why we believe the obscure dragon design on this vessel, and the accompanying nephrite chosen for its construction, should bear out an earlier stylistic dating than what some have written thus far. As with many things, it is a matter of opinion only, and not to be taken as ‘gospel’, but we hope it does stimulate the ‘jade community’ to investigate further.

The unusually wide range (for us) in dating of the Octagonal Two-Dragon Cup is due to the fact that somewhere in our thousands of volumes of research material, we have seen an exact duplicate design of this cup, with a dating to the Liao Dynasty (907-1125 CE) of Northern China. After searching for a week through thousands of photographs (we thought it was in The Complete Collection Of Jades Unearthed In China – Gu Fang), we have yet to re-find it. If any person out there who reads this article and knows of this other cup (it will look like an exact mate and very possibly is, octagonal and with two dragons), please write to admin@timelessjade.com, and we will review it and revise this article. However, being stated as Liao to Ming Dynasty, we personally believe the design to be towards the earlier dating, both from a stylistic point of view and by what we have discovered under microscopic conditions, after first cleaning the item of all waxes and residues from its obvious re-polishing and re-patina-ing.

It is a well-known design change toward the rendition of dragons in general which occurred around  one thousand years ago, in both jade and pottery designs during the Liao and Song Dynasties. The major changes to previous renditions are of more ‘flowing’ dragon with longer tails, arm and legs. While some items from the Han Dynasty reflect these same attributes, as can be easily verified in the aforementioned volumes of burial jades from China, we see a more consistent approach toward this ’sinuousness’ in the dragon designs which follow old Han Dynasty models. In this Jade Vessel we find the lengthening of the appendages but with a much more ‘ridged’ approach than came be more commonly found throughout the Song Dynasty and into the Ming Dynasty. While one famous museum talks of the their piece as possibly being a late Qing Dynasty work (we will reference this a little later), we believe the cup should undergo a further analysis, as we find, in our opinion, the reasoning behind their stylistic dating technique to be possibly flawed, and the science used to determine its dating as lacking.

Lengthening Of The Appendages On Prosser Collection's Dragon Cup

Bottom Of The Prosser Collection Jade Cup Showing Octagonal Foot Rim, Complimenting The Cup's Shape

The stone for this marvelous cup was surely chosen for its intrinsic mottled beauty, and the Chinese knew well the Pseudomorphs in Nephrite Jade from the Khotan-Hetian Region (as is obvious from the over three-thousand year-old Collared Disc, shown in Book 13, Page 26 of The Complete Collection Of Jades Unearthed In China, and can be seen in many other Shang Dynasty pieces in the same book). Nephritic material, such as that in the cup above, is known to have been used intentionally during the Song Dynasty, as it closely resembles, in color and texture, some objects they were unearthing from the Han Dynasty tombs a thousand years before. The Song Dynasty Jades often reflect their reverence of the old designs, and it would seem most likely the Northern Kingdom of the Liao Dynasty would also imitate in their own manner, much the same as the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasty archaistic jades. It follows the pattern set down through successions of periodic ancestor worship when the teachings of the Tao and Confucianism were at their height. With the longer bodies and sinuous bifurcated tails worked into the cup in high relief, with the deep piercing, the dragons on the Prosser Collection cup appear to have some, if not all of the properties described in Plate 164 of the book Later Chinese Jades – Ming To Early Twentieth Century, from The Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, and dated most likely to the period of the 19Th Century. However, while the deeper piercing might indicate this later date for their beautiful cup, other examples of deeply pierced designs were not uncommon in earlier Dynastic periods. Coupled with the likelihood that their cup was also re-polished, as was the cup above (indicated in the much rougher area to be seen underneath the dragon on their cup, which most likely received less re-polishing), it might be wise to re-evaluate their single-dragon cup, after the removal of any wax or other coatings it might have received after its re-polishing. This would allow a much greater opportunity to study the original tooling marks which may well underlie the re-polishing marks. The description for this single dragon cup also mentions a rough finish to the interior as being an indication of a Ming Dynasty date, which to our way of thinking falls more into the degradation aspect and re-polishing facet. To make blanket statements about Ming Dynasty rough finishes flies directly into the face of the fact that many Ming Dynasty jade artifacts were as finely made and polished as some of the finest pieces known to have been made in the famous Qianlong Era of the Qing Dynasty (see The Complete Collection Of Jades Unearthed In China for numerous examples). We believe, as we see everyday in both old artifacts and modern jade carvings, a differing degree of skill and polishing from one artist to another. For further review of this concept, one can also realize the great discrepancies in every period of jade and stone workmanship simply by studying the examples unearthed in China, and even from the exact same tombs. From examples found in the Marquis Yi’s tomb alone in Book 10 of The Complete Collection Of Jades Unearthed In China, the stunning difference in quality of workmanship is staggering. We also feel this most wonderful series of books may expose some of the most unrecognized flaws in archeological dating, such as the well-known fact that literally millions of Chinese people have loved to collect, study, revere, and then be buried with their older treasures; whether a piece was left unfinished because of time restraints, and buried with the deceased, or simply came from a more remote region with unrefined carvers, are among other possibilities for explanations of dating challenges.

This is the major problem (in our opinion) with relying almost entirely on stylistic approaches for dating and authentication purposes, when it is truly the original tooling marks that would better define the item’s correct place in history, along with at least a cursory study of the artifact and likely conditions of burial, based on microscopic analysis of both the stone and the old and newer tooling marks. Even while not having been there when an artifact was made and buried, some logical conclusions can still be ascertained, if one takes the time and preparation to access it with care and a certain degree of understanding. If an item was dyed, how and when was it dyed? Older dyes are not removed with solvent while modern ones are easily removed, and what lies beneath can be readily identified, as is often the case in restoration of an old artifact – it takes on a kind of ‘individual license’, as some are dyed and some are not. Sometimes the dyes and fire treatments are used to hide a repaired original crack in an original highly-oxidized artifact. Also, while the common ten-power loupes are easier on the eyes, we find they are rarely of much use in authenticating an older re-cut and re-polished jade artifact.

The similarity between the dragon design on the cup in the Asian Art Museum Of San Francisco collection and the ones on the Prosser Collection cup can be easily discerned. While we will never give a positive date or authentication by photograph alone, it is an extremely common occurrence throughout this industry to not only identify by photograph alone, but even to be so ‘expert’ as to be able to verify items of antiquity from 6 feet away, and whether they are in original condition, restored or reproduction. Sadly, we do not possess such ‘abilities’, and have to rely on more direct (aka scientific, and verifiable) methods, with both artifacts and reproductions. We feel this should be standard practice throughout the industry, given the numerous factors involved and the variety of methods of production, and reproduction, of such items of art of antiquity.

 

Side View Of One Of The Dragons And Variegated Type Of Grey Nephrite Used

All Above Photographs Taken With Canon EOS XSi Using Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L Lens USM

Macro Lens Photograph Of Pseudomorphs & Chip To Rim Of Prosser Collection Cup at 1X

Above Photograph Taken With Canon EOS XSi Using MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Lens

We believe the nephrite jade originally used for this cup was chosen precisely because of its mottled properties, to mimic a true archaic jade from a earlier period. The iron oxides around the pseudomorphs were most likely deposited in the crack separating the morphing quartz crystal  from the jade. This was almost surely caused, in this instance, by proximally placed iron-rich burial objects, which are well known from both archaic and later burials. The cracks around the pseudomorphing quartz crystals most likely were caused by what we have heard called ‘the alpha – beta stages’ of a growing quartz (explained in an earlier article on this site on pseudomorphs). As referred to before, this jade cup has been cleaned of all waxes by soaking in acetone for over three weeks, and then cleaned with our high pressure water gun. What is left is all original deposits that have not been sanded away in the restoration process. The reason the iron is so prevalent around the pseudomorph is due to the iron, over long-term burial, actually becoming a part of the whole, as it literally permeates the surfaces as they degrade along with the iron. This is very similar to what sometimes happens when manganese deposits adhere to the surface of stone and pottery items and actually start growing up and out from a central adhesion area. The chip in the viewer’s upper left corner in the second photograph above shows the well known ‘botryoidal’ look of chipped nephrite, and was left untouched in the re-polishing efforts. Veining of iron oxides (as can be seen in the photographs above) occurs over the entire surface of the jade, and is most likely a mixture of deposits inside the natural jade, and intrusions from degrading iron oxides during burial.

For a fine reference of similar stylistic types to the above mentioned jade cups, but from the Ming Dynasty period, please see Ms. Jessica Rawson’s exemplary book Chinese Jade – From Neolithic To The Qing – Part IV, pages 388-389. These marvelous examples, while being close stylistically, in our opinion are a bit more refined in the depiction and carving of the dragons, and to us, better reflect a closer association with Song Dynasty dragon depictions than do the Prosser Collection cup and one in the Asian Art Museum Of San Francisco Collection. As in all things, it is a matter of opinion based on individual conclusions, and not having had the pleasure to view the other collection’s pieces cleaned and under microscopic condition, we can only try to stimulate a hypothesis that perhaps the Prosser Collection cup and the one from the Asian Art Museum Of San Francisco could well be from the same area originally, due to the similarity of design and perhaps be of an older period than the ones in Ms. Rawson’s book.

Note: part two of this series will complete the description and continue with more in-depth Macro and Microscopic photographs.

David Fredericks — Yulongwei

Antiquities, Plus…

Clear Creek Jadeite From California

An Explanation Why

California Clear Creek Jadeite River-Worn Cobble

Clear Creek Jadeite Cobble From Kirk Brock's Old Claim

Many samples have been seen of California’s Clear Creak Jadeite at the various shows in California, one of which is the Big Sur Jade Festival. The Jadeite has been tested geologically and is mentioned in older, obscure  periodicals, but to walk the area and pick up a piece of pretty colored stone does not necessarily mean one has found a genuine piece of California Jadeite. The stones we will be examining here were sent to us by Mr. Kirk Brock, of Rock Solid Jade, from an old claim he had been working prior to the California State shut-down of the area in which the Jadeite is found. While almost everyone of us Jade and Jadeite aficionados know the Jadeite from Burma-Myanmar and the Jadeite from Guatemala when we run across a good sample, this far less known but equally pure Jadeite from California has some properties shared with both aforementioned Jadeites, but is still unique and stands on its own in purity and  complexity. This article will give us a brief synopsis of what Kirk asked me to provide from examination, and will also be the beginning of a topic on Jadeite and Nephrite that we have never seen written or discussed before – how fractured stones heal themselves. As can be easily discerned in the photographs above, this Jadeite shows it has not only been fractured but was practically decimated one or more times in what had to have been major catastrophic events which literally shattered this amazing deposit of one of the rarest stone in America.

Close-Up of Fractured - Healed & Healing Clear Creek Jadeite

Graph Of Jadeite 'Spikes' On California Crear Creek Jadeite

With such a shattered stone, it was a bit amazing when the stone tested out so pure. Kirk had sent a definitive sample to John Attard from Attard XRD Services for an X-Ray diffraction test, with the results seen above. Seeing such a once-fractured stone, I would have expected it to include many differing minerals, and the healed portions to be less Jadeite than the surrounding Jadeite. However, very much was different from my original assumptions upon first viewing the stone and later seeing the test above. With my own observations under microscopic conditions and a simple Presidium Gem Tester, new discoveries have been made and probably more will follow as it is examined more seriously by others. Now, much has been said about the Presidium from various different camps, and each and everyone who has either used the machine or just assumed an opinion based on cost, should know that I personally have a fair amount of respect for the machine, as we have worn out four of them and are working on our fifth. Having performed well in excess of two million ’stabs’ on different Nephrites and Jadeites, among many other simulants, hemi- and semi-jades, we have found many consistencies and some anomalies in the machine, but even the anomalies are consistent (Steatite and ShouShan stone for some reason always test in the jadeite range, but knowing this, a simple viewing of the stone and a scratch test will verify these stones). While it is a single tool and only shows a piece of the puzzle, it does have its usefulness and is much more portable than hauling million-dollar equipment into the field, and with fairly pure Jadeite I have never seen it fail. All of our final analyses, especially with the differing nephrites, are done under microscopic examination.  It is only when Jadeite falls below the approximate 65% pureness and is thick with other minerals, that the tester falls below the Jadeite mark. With the Clear Creek Jadeite, all areas fall exactly where I would expect, within the Jadeite parameters. With that said, what we found on the specimens of Clear Creek Jadeite under magnification and with the tester both bore each other out, and were perfectly in ’sync’ with the testing results above.

Rough-Sawn Clear Creek Jadeite Slab

'Tumble Polished' Clear Creek Jadeite Large Pebble

In both of the pictures above we can easily see just how shattered these original pieces of Jadeite were, after whatever violent events took place. The amount of fracturing of the original dark blue Jadeite was extensive as can be seen by the many healed and healing fractures criss-crossing throughout. This effect is in all the pieces of Clear Creek Jadeite we have ever seen from differing sources. Some pieces we have handled are bluer, some are blacker and some are lighter, but the fractured qualities are always in every piece we have tested. What was not expected is what the X-Ray Diffraction tests prove out – the white and light blue veining are not only Jadeite but are of a purer nature than the surrounding original stone. As can be seen in the first photo above as the darkest of lines, and in the lower photo above in the more translucent white vertical vein, both contain pure crystals of Jadeite growing from the sides of the fractures in the ‘mother stone’ at varying rates, to in fact “heal the stone”. It is our opinion that these specimens of which we have taken photographs may have seen differing cataclysmic events in their history as some anomalies still remain, like some smaller veins being not totally healed, where other veins are not only healed but are starting to morph back into their original dark blue color from exchanging ions with the mother stone, after first growing to heal the damaged fractures. There are cases (as can be seen above) of older healed fractures running through newer fractures with clear, translucent crystalline growth (shown better in the microscopic photographs to follow) growing towards each other from both side of the fracture. [For those who might think we have gone too far here, please read on as we will also be showing 'witnessed' specimens by some of the finest jade collectors, gemologists, and artists, who work with the stone daily, of this same process in Guatemalan Jadeite, Burmese Jadeite and Wyoming Nephrite, with more promised specimens from other collections being sent for observation and photography, in a future article].

Clear Creek Jadeite Showing Large White Healing of Purer Jadeite

Lighter Colored Healed Fractures in Clear Creek Jadeite

All Above Photos Taken With Canon EOS XSi Using EF 24-70mm F/2.8L USM Lens

In the above two pictures we can clearly see the healed fractures, but what we can not see is the purity of the Jadeite in the fractures. With the Presidium Gem Tester we can easily tell the difference in purity, and subsequent conductivity, in the areas that are white and not contaminated with impurities which color the mother stone. In every case, the lighter the area probed, the higher the reading on the tester. In the case of the whitest areas with the most translucency, this stone will test to the same position on the meter as fine translucent Burmese Jadeite, and the translucent crystalline areas even higher. In the graph from John Attard you will also notice spikes that may correspond to the higher readings from the tester, but to be definitive, separate samples would have to be tested, and would probably be a fun thing to do for those selling this marvelous raw material.

Crystalline Clear Creek Jadeite Healing A Fracture Under 10X Microscopic Power

Surface Showing Particles On Rough-Sawn Slab at 25X Microscopic Power

In the first photograph above, we can again see just how much damage the original Jadeite has endured over time, and the first clear picture of the pure Jadeite crystals growing from both sides of a fracture to ‘heal’ the stone. In the lower left you can see part of the ‘rind’ from the outside surface of the slab where it has been penetrated by surrounding minerals in a damaged area, most likely from tumbling down the river in which it was found. In the second photograph above at 25X microscopic power, we can easily identify the typical ‘graininess’ of the  Jadeite as opposed to the ‘felted’ fibers associated more with nephrite jade (although we have examples of Jadeite showing both the graininess typical to the stone with clear nephritic type fibers right next to each other – so, as with Nephrite, not all Jadeites are created exactly the same).

Pure Jadeite Crystals In Crear Creek Jadeite Under 25X Microscopic Power

California Clear Creak Jadeite Crystals Under 25X Microscopic Power

It from this part of the Clear Creek Jadeite (and other crystalline areas on other samples) where we got the highest Jadeite readings on the Presidium Gem Tester. Every time we probed these areas we found a much higher reading of conductivity than the surrounding bluer areas. The healed whiter and light blue areas also tested higher than the original darker blue matrix jadeite, exactly as the Burmese Jadeite tests with the pure white higher and translucent green emerald lower, because of the contaminants causing the darker colors. In all specimens observed where the crystalline structure could be noted (whether Jadeite or Nephrite), we have seen this exact pattern of growth from both sides towards each other. As we gather the other promised specimens, it should lead to a wonderful article devoted solely to this process of how Jadeites and Nephrites sometimes heal themselves.

Pure Jadeite 'Healing' Crystals Under 35X Microscopic Power

Healed Clear Creek Jadeite Showing Crystalline Structure Inside, Starting To 'Morph', At 35X Microscopic Power (Polished Piece)

Above Six Photos Taken With Canon EOS XSi Attached To Tri-Port Of Microscope

While the common current accepted theory is that there is no crystalline Jadeite, we do not accept this theory as ‘fact’. Through further and more intensive testing, we believe crystalline Jadeite will be acknowledged in the mainstream of geological knowledge. At the recent Jade Through the Ages Show at our Gallery in Tucson, Antiquities, Plus…, we were strongly encouraged to present this beginning article on this most fascinating of jade-related subjects, by some of the most respected jade people we know, who have seen for themselves what these specimens look like under microscopic conditions. It is only a matter of more definitive testing by those that are truly interested in the ‘final truth’ being known for the right reasons. Knowledge that can be shared freely will almost always lead to further knowledge being uncovered.

In closing, I would like to comment on the workability of this phenomenal Jadeite from the perspective of the carvers working the material. While I personally have limited experience in working this stone, I have found exactly what Kirk Brock of Rock Solid Jade and Peter Schilling of Taking Form Jade have told me of its properties. It is tight, hard, and works marvelously from the roughing stages clear through to the mirror-like polish it takes, even at six-hundred grit. My monolithic diamond tools find a sure surface to work on in the roughing stage, with the only caution needed being in the harder and whiter healed fracture zone, as I find it will skip a bit going over these fractures if not held steady. But overall, it is a wonderful stone to carve intricate shapes into, and with the amazing color variations, it makes a finished product that in the world of Jadeite is unique and beautiful to say the least, with very little undercutting experienced. Choosing the right portion of the Jadeite stone for the purpose intended will lead one to the desired results in a finished product. Also, I wish to thank Mr. Kirk Brock and all the other ‘interested’ parties who made this beginning article possible.

David Fredericks

Antiquities, Plus…

Jade Through The Ages Show 2010

Tucson Gem & Mineral Show

Full House At The Grand Opening - Jade Through The Ages Show 2010

Warren Rees (left) One of America's Earliest Carvers Shows His Wyoming Jade Carvings

With the advent of our change in name from Jade Art Now to Jade Through The Ages to better reflect the diversity of the show, and the economic depression reflected throughout the entire Tucson Gem Show, our Jade Through The Ages Show equaled in sales volume our best show to date. Many attendees commented it was the finest, professional and most pleasant show to date, truly reflecting the theme of Jade Through The Ages.

Georg Schmerholz Shows Fellow Jadeite Artist Hnin Eindani One of His Creations

Kirk & Mrs. Makepeace With Georg After The Unveiling Of "The Buffalo" With Polar Jade Horns

Georg Schmerholz made quite a showing with his sculptures again this year and showing his mastery of working even the hardest to carve stones with this ‘very present’ buffalo with large and extremely hard to carve “Polar Jade” incorporating even the white degradation veining along with the more familiar, translucent wonder of one of the Makepeace’s ‘world ‘renowned’ Polar from their Jade Mine opperation.

Peter Schilling 'Talks Jade' With One Of The Hundreds That Attended Opening Night

Dante Lopez of Cancun Shows Dr. Lin His Guatemalan Pure Translucent Blue & Green Jadeite

Both Peter Schilling of Taking Form Jade and Dante Lopez of Studio Dante were extremely successful at this years show as were all of the artists which participated. So many exemplary artistic impressions were displayed at this years show from all the attendees. The quantity and quality of the carvings and hand finishing was in a word – astounding.

Tom Finneran Shows A Guest His Marvelous Creations

Justin Barrett Of "Just in Jade" Talks Jade Collecting With Kirk Makepeace

Hnin Eindani Third Generation Jadeite Carver & Steve Stegall of A Gathering Of Spirits Gallery

Surrounded by Eleven Old Jade and Jadeite Collections from across the United States and bronze, jadeite, wood, quartz and pottery from China, Burma, India, and Africa along-with Pre-Columbian Artifacts in separate galleries gave everyone a night to remember and a great sense of the timelessness of art and religious importance.

David Fredericks & Dr. Lin Inspecting Jade Vases From The Last Two Timeless Jade Articles

Start Of The Jade Through The Ages Show 2010

We sincerely wish to thank all the artists who worked so hard to make this years show a success with a special thank you to Mr. John Snook of  John’s Jades of Casper Wyoming (who has been mining and carving Jade for almost 50 years) for his special pieces donated for show at the gallery, and to Camaraderie Cellars for the wonderful case of fine red wines provided for the Opening Night. We also thank all of the collections that were added to the Fredericks-McIntire Collection of Archaic and Archaistic Jades and associated stone and gem pieces. Also a special thanks (you all know who you are) for your support of the Artists, the Gala Opening and the Annual Dinner.

Lee Speights - Horse Form Pendant Of Wyoming Black Nephrite

Part Of The White Jadeite Figures - Shamrock Estate Collection - Acquired Pre-1946

Old Collections Represented:

Fredericks-McIntire Collection

Kim Stewert Collection

Ronald Edwin Prosser Estate Collection

K. C. Bell Collection

Ang Estate Collection

Chernysh Estate Collection

Sam Gitchel Collection

Shamrock Estate Collection

Craig & Kathy Bowdoin Collection

Jane Slosser Collection

Jim Campbell Family Collection

More fine pictures of the Show and it’s Participants will be posted on  http://jadethroughtheages.com soon.

David Fredericks — Yulongwei

Antiquities, Plus…

Magnificent Late Eastern Zhou Nephrite Jade Funeral Vessel

- Old Repairs With New & Original Gold Gilt

Fredericks/McIntire Collection Gold Gilt Large Jade Vase

Vessel Finial Showing Re-Lacquered Gluing At Feet

With the full vessel measuring approximately 17-1/2″ Height X 9-1/2″ Width X 4-1/2 ” Depth, this wonderful late Eastern Zhao Funeral jade must have made, in its original state, quite a presentation. It was made from the same Nephrite Jade boulder in three original pieces – the main vessel, the lid, and the separate finial for the top. We can see in the above picture the re-lacquer gluing of the finial which occurred most likely around one thousand years ago (see part two). In going over the entire re-glued sections of the feet, we find no damage to the nephrite on either the bottoms of the feet or on the top of the jade lid. With this being the case, we know it was originally a lacquer-glued finial; if it were broken off in the initial burial, we would have found damage to both the bottoms of the feet and to the top of the lid, as we have on other vessels in our collection where the entire top was made of one piece  and the finial had been broken off and repaired. The fact that it was is not an original lacquer application can be seen under microscopic conditions, as this lacquer matches exactly the rest of the remaining lacquer, which was used to highlight and accentuate the re-cut Lei Wen patterns on the vessel, which had degraded away during the original burial. The gold gilt on the lacquer repaired finial also matches the gold gilt applied to the rest of lacquer at the time of its first re-cutting and re- polishing, as will be better viewed in the coming Macro and Microscopic photographs.

Macro Lens Close-Up Of Finial Repair and Lacquer Glue at 1X

Above Photo Taken with Canon EOS XSI Using MPE 65mm f/2.8 1-5X Macro Lens at 1X

Microscopic View of Above Lacquer Repair at 35X power

Above Photo Taken with Canon EOS XSi Under 35X Microscopic Power

In the above two photographs, we can see all the iron oxidation to the original nephrite jade that has occurred to the vessel since it was originally made well over two thousand years ago. When this vessel was first made, all the red rind was cut away in the original shaping of the vessel, and only through extended burial can this iron oxidation occur to such a point that it totally penetrates entire sections, where it can be seen after the re-cutting and re-polishing. Dyes will not penetrate nephrite to such an extent nor as naturally, even under the conditions they use to dye jadeite, with heavy acid baths and centrifugal force. With the microscopic photograph above, the details of the nephrite degradation since the secondary burial become very evident in the pitting of the jade, and the integrity of the approximately one thousand year-old lacquer glue can be seen. Over all four of the finial’s feet, this lacquer glue shows complete integrity, with no major separations to be found. The old style lacquer glue never ceases to amaze me as to its endurance, and if it has not  sustained a major sideways shock, will literally outlast the nephrite, as we have seen original jade repairs using lacquer on items that were chipped during construction over three thousand years ago, and the jade will be degraded away, leaving the original lacquer repair protruding up above the degraded jade. In the microscopic photo above, the remnants of the secondary gold gilding can be easily identified, as they still cling tenuously to the re-buried, further-degraded and later re-polished surface, most likely sometime around the 18Th Century, as will be shown later in this article.

Re-Tooling, Re- polishing & Natural Iron Oxidation With Original & Secondary Degradation on Eastern Zhou Vessel

All Original Degradation To Vessel In Portion Never Re-Cut or Polished

Above Two Photos Taken With Canon EOS XSi Using MPE 65mm f/2.8 1-5X Macro Lens at 2X

The above two photographs start to show in extreme clarity what has been discussed in Parts One & Two of this three-part series concerning the variations in nephrite jade, even within the same boulder. After thousands of years of burial, the nephritic structure starts to degrade in such a way as to truly show its inherent characteristics. In the first photograph above, it is quite evident where the moisture, for over two thousand- plus years, has penetrated the Khotan-Hetian nephrite and caused the less structurally-intact portion to undergo a deep iron oxidation, while the portion right next to it did not have as deep an effect. This is because the central lighter band which runs through the stone is a bit more porous than the outer section of the original boulder, which is more tightly fibered (as will be seen in following microscopic photographs showing the final re-polishing). Also of interest in this photo is the remnants of the secondary lacquer and gold gilding still clinging to the re-cut swirl in the viewer’s upper right corner. In the second photograph above, we can see how the vessel appeared when it was first unearthed (or at least something close to it, as it has further degraded since then), in a portion of the central, lighter colored band which was left in its original state, with no re-cutting of the Lei Wen pattern. We can also see a piece of the original gold gilt from when the vessel was first made late in the Eastern Zhou Period, in the viewer’s bottom left corner, still attached in the original tooling groove of the original Lei Wen pattern. While it is a common misbelief that gold remains pure and does not degrade or tarnish, it is just that – a misbelief. Gold will tarnish and degrade depending on burial conditions and the original purity of the gold. While not possessing micro-probe analysis equipment, it would be our highest expectation that the remaining original degraded gold would test to everyone’s satisfaction as indeed being gold, or at minimum a high content gold alloy. It is also extremely noticeable even in this lower power photograph, that the original gold gilt did not lie on a bed of Lacquer but rather directly upon the nephrite itself. Also, in the last photograph we can start to directly see the porous structure of this particular band of lighter-colored jade in the middle of the vessel. While being more porous than the outer, darker green stone, the oxidized lighter nephrite is still fibrous in nature, but not as tightly fibered as the remainder of the vessel.

Original Zhou Period Gold Gilt Not On Lacquer Base

Remnants of Original Gold Gilt From Late Eastern Zhou Period

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

Easily seen in both photographs above are the small flakes of gold still embedded in the original degraded gold gilt. While some of the upper gold flakes on top may be from the second gold gilding from some one thousand years ago, there are definitely pieces of the original gold still sticking into the degraded gold, or gold alloy. These two photos came from an area on top of the side dragon flanges of the lid, and from the one side which is more oxidized, and can be seen in the first photograph at the top of this page. Signs of original degradation to the nephrite appear in the top photograph above as the white ‘calcification’ we have all read about over the years, which is not calcification at all, but is properly termed ‘degradation’. With a sharp eye, some of the secondary sanding marks can be seen running vertically in both photographs. Even these slight vertical grooves are pitted and much more degraded than the third polishing marks to be seen in some of the remaining photos in this article.

Macro Photo Of First Re-Tooling Marks and Lacquer Appliqué

Secondary Tooling to Design With Degraded Secondary Gold Gilt Over Lacquer

Above Two Photos Taken with Canon EOS XSi Using MPE 65mm f/2.8 1-5X Macro Lens at 2x

Again, in the above two photos, we can see the well-degraded nephrite and very clear markings of the re-cutting of the original design. The same type of temper was used in most of the lacquer, as was shown in part two of this series, with the exception that in the grooved-design areas, the temper was more finely ground, as can be seen better in the first photograph above than the one below it. The degradation inside the newer tooling marks is easily discernible in both photographs, with the malachite over the newer lacquer, most likely from impurities in the secondary gilding, showing very clearly in the last photo. In the lower photograph, we can also see the original tooling marks, just to the viewer’s right, at the top of the curl in the design and to the right of (the jutting off) green malachite. On this part of the vessel, the immediate design was re-cut, and the degraded, shallower original tooling marks were left alone. Most times, the re-cutting on old vessels follows this path, as the original tooling marks are often not as deep and defined as the newer ones. When re-cutting a design, we must remember that they were cutting through degraded jade and not a fresh block cut from a boulder. This allows the newer tooling to progress deeper into the the remains of the original designs, but I have yet to find an incised design on an older vessel where they have perfectly re-cut every line. Almost always, they skip a bit in the tighter portions of the designs, or at the ends of grooves where they ‘trail off’.

Degraded Lid Showing Secondary Lacquer & Traces of Gold Gilt

Original In-Situ Degradation On Foot of The Vessel

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

In the above two photographs, we revert back to our regular lens just for a minute, to re-show parts of the late Eastern Zhou  jade vessel in its natural degraded state, along with some of the secondary cutting performed so long ago. While the top photo shows, in wonderful detail, the ravages of time on burial jades, it also lends a bit of insight into the reverence the Chinese felt in the past for these original sacred jade pieces from the burials of the Royal Families, and the last truly great innovations in the art of creative design in jade carving. From this point in history, all other jades start to pale in form and power, as the beginnings of ancestor worship started to take the highest precedence in the jade, stone, lacquer and bronze arts. Before this time, stemming from the early Neolithic Period, there had been a continuous progression in form and design for over seven thousand years, which abruptly came to an almost screeching halt at the end of the Eastern Zhou Period, and while some very fine examples of the arts exist from the last two thousand years, in our opinion they are but hollow shells compared to the original pieces from which they were copied. It amazes us that China, while continuing to ’saber rattle’ concerning the sacred and original treasures of this period and their exquisite and unique genius of form and production, unlike anything else in the world at the time and with technology that was certainly unsurpassed in the working of the world’s toughest stone, still hides their finest treasures from the world in the vaults of their museums, and continues to put precedence on the arts of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, while the finest jade art ever produced in China still languishes in almost total obscurity.

Secondary Gold Gilt Over Lacquer Left After Second Burial Of The Vessel

More Secondary Gold Gilt Over Lacquer In Re-Tooled Design

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

In the two photographs above, under 35X microscopic power, we find in two different places on the vessel the approximately one thousand year-old re-grooving, the remaining secondary re-gilding over the lacquer, and most importantly to us, the clearest pictures yet of the structure of the degraded nephrite after a minimum of two extended burial periods. The first photo above shows an area where the original jade was most likely a lighter shade of green than the outside edges of the vessel, and being less tightly-fibered inside darker green area, sustained much more iron oxidation. Even after the first re-cutting and re-polishing of the vessel, this iron oxidation runs completely through the sides of the vessel, while the darker and more tightly-fibered sides did not undergo this extreme amount of oxidation, better withstanding the ravages of time and corrosive burial conditions, and in turn remains to this day mostly the same (other than the re-polishing) as it did when the vessel was first made some 2,300-plus years ago. Comparing the two photographs, it is easy to see the difference between the two different portions. In the first photo, we can see it is more oxidized, but more important is the structural integrity of the jade itself; we can easily see the tighter nephritic fibers and denser structure of the nephrite. The second photo was taken where the vessel is much more white in color and shows us a far less typical granular effect in the degraded nephrite. We will all undoubtably get tired of my saying that all nephrite is not created equal, and is truly one of the most misunderstood stones in the world. However, in the bottom photo above, we can still see the fibrous nature inside the granulation that almost takes on a compressed metamorphic presence. It is very possible that this portion of the original nephrite boulder had undergone some extreme pressure and had shattered in the vein from whence it came, and over time, the granular fractures ‘healed’, so to speak.

Third Polishing Of The Green Jade Area, With Close-Ups Below

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

Image Of Green Portion Of Vessel Under 35X Magnification

Image Of Green Portion Of The Jade After Third Polishing

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

The two lower photographs above were taken at 35X microscopic power in the green jade area of the first picture. This is to us an extremely important feature, as it clearly shows the vessel was re-polished at least once after the initial and secondary burials. In the two microscopic photographs, we can easily discern the last sanding/polishing marks as pitted grooves running horizontally. It is due to the fact that these polishing grooves have started to degrade and pit that we can closely date the time period of the final re-polishing. If this last re-polishing had been done in the last fifty to one hundred years, we would see a much different surface than what is seen above. The polishing marks would look much cleaner and would have very little of the pitting and wear that we see in the photos. This surface was not acid-etched, nor was it fire-burnt to attain the look it has now, which only comes naturally over time. By the pitting, wear, and accompanying degradation, we would estimate this final re-polishing to have been done somewhere between the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty periods. This would put the final polishing on this magnificent vessel around the 17Th Century period. Since this time, we do not believe the vessel was re-buried, and if it was, it would have been for short periods (as with occupation during WWII) and would have been in a well-sealed environment. This type of wear and pitting is usually caused from hand salts and acids from subsequent touching of the vessel, as would occur when being viewed and revered over time. This wonderful vessel stays on display at our gallery, and any inquiries or serious studies can be arranged by appointment only.

Note: Due to our up-coming Jade show in the first week of February, and the fact that I have a multitude of authentications to finish in the next three weeks, I will be taking a hiatus from this site (other than monitoring) for the next month. We will be having some extremely exciting new articles on intriguing jade and jadeite specimens, and more artifacts starting later in February, so please keep coming back. You can visit us at our Jade Show or go to JadeThroughTheAges.com .

David Fredericks  – Yulongwei

Antiquities, Plus…

Magnificent Late Eastern Zhou Nephrite Jade Funeral Vessel

- Old Repairs With New & Original Gold Gilt

Three Piece Nephrite Jade Vessel - Fredericks/McIntire Collection

Side View Showing Curvature of Vessel From Construction & Repair

Above Photos Taken with Canon EOS XSi Using EF 24-70mm f/2.8l USM Lens

With its most definitive ‘banding’ of colors, this wonderful vessel helps to show one of the true natures of nephrite jade in its very structure, and the vessel itself teaches volumes of what actually occurs under certain burial and re-burial conditions. Made from a solid boulder of distinctive ‘celadon’ green nephrite with an origin core of lighter green to white nephrite running through its middle portion, we see one of the most unique features which often occur in nephrite jade from the Khotan-Hetian region. Rarely do we find the same tightness of fibers that we find in say, Wyoming Edwards Black Nephrite Jade. Rather, the fibers in most Khotan Jades are not nearly as densely  packed together as the older Wyoming jades, but as in most things, there are no absolutes. Khotan jades almost always test harder and more conductive than do the tighter fibered jades of Wyoming and some from New Zealand, British Columbia and other places. This helps us to determine the source material for some of the artifacts we own and and are currently authenticating for others. Differing jade sources offer differing looks, hardness, associated minerals, and conductivity. British Columbian nephrite does not look like most Wyoming jade, and neither look like the jades from the Khotan region or the extremely distinctive jades of the Lake Tai Region, and all show similar yet totally different general formations. The most singular standout-verifier on this entire vessel can easily be seen in the photographs of the last article and the accompanying photos directly above. In this wide band of what is now mostly white nephrite can be seen the unreproducible, distinct, through-transmission, and iron oxidation in the lighter band which was effected more deeply by the water and soil conditions in long term burial. These through-transmission, iron oxidized veins are all of natural occurrence, and flow through the degraded jade. A solid boulder of nephrite will never have these thick, wide, and naturally occurring iron oxide sections, but will rather have a thinner red iron oxide band penetrating the stone to a much lesser degree, side to side, when the original nephrite has a unhealed fracture, and moisture has penetrated. The old and new replicators can not get the dyes to penetrate through nephrite jade to such a depth, and when they try, they fall far short of anything approaching realistic degradation of the original iron inside the nephrite (which turns nephrite green). While the entire surface of this vessel was highly degraded when it was first uncovered from the tomb, it was in this wide lighter band which runs through its center that the worst of the degradation took place. This coincides with the fact that this wider band of lighter colored nephrite was more porous and less tightly fibered, leading the way for more water and corrosives to attack the band more readily, and while it still worked on the darker celadon green, it did not effect these areas in such an aggressive manner. This separate degree of degradation, caused by the different nephritic structures, will be amply verified in the Macro and Microscopic photographs to follow in this section of the article and in the final, Part Three of this series.

Lid of Vessel Showing Matching Stone Construction

Major Area of Early Lacquer, Iron and Temper Repair On Foot of Vessel

Above Two Photos Taken With Canon EOS XSi Using EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM Lens

When the original stone for this vessel was chosen, it would have been a boulder from Khotan with the interior having the characteristics of the bright celadon color we see on the the sides of this piece, with a lighter green to white major band running through the middle. The only iron oxide red, at the time of original string saw cutting to rough out the shape, would have been on the rind, or skin, of the boulder. As the rind was cut away it would have left a two-toned, pure stone of the colors described. The red iron oxide coloration we see here on this vessel could only have come from long-term burial as moisture and corrosive soils worked on the iron in the nephrite over a very long period of time, and it worked at the least dense portion of the stone to a much higher degree than the tighter, harder and more fibrous portions to the outside. This particular vessel was made of three portions from the same boulder, and is comprised of the massive bottom portion, the main body of the lid and a the separate lion finial with bifurcated tail (which was applied with lacquer glue). The lacquer glue which now holds the lion in place is a secondary application and was re-fixed to the lid after the finial had cracked off during its initial burial. While lacquer glue has been proven to be nearly impervious to water solvents, even in harsh soil conditions, and will most definitely out-last the nephrite by an almost unbelievable degree as the jade degrades around it, the lacquer glue’s only true weakness comes from its becoming brittle over time, and is thus susceptible to sideways shock. A blow from collapsing dirt or physical objects in the near vicinity in the tomb could dislodge an added-on portion to these old vessels, and this will be the case with the finial on this vessel, as will be shown in later photographs. Almost all of the fine detail in this vessel is of a secondary re-cutting and not the original tooling marks. Following what was left of the original tooled design, the restorers of the vessel many years ago followed the original design faithfully and still left enough in-situ portions to be able to accurately assess the chain of events from its original conception through to what we see today in this magnificent and detailed carving from late in the Eastern Zhou Period.

Of particular note in the above photograph is the extremely old repair to the cracking foot of the vessel and the type of repair used. We have seen this type of repair used on old Tang Dynasty to Song Dynasty pottery ware where there had been a crack in the pottery vessel, either from firing or from usage. The repair is a mixture of lacquer glue, iron filings with quartz and other rock temper. Judging from the examples we have in our possession, it is a most effective repair, albeit not the most attractive or finessed of techniques. Still, it adds tremendous authenticity to the vessel and the early time period in which it was originally repaired, re-cut and re-polished.

Bottom of Vessel Showing Old Lacquer and Temper Repair

Close Up Side View Of Old Lacquer Repair

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

With these close ups we can further see the much cruder technology used in the initial repair to the cracking and degrading foot that would lead us to believe the first repairs were preformed approximately one thousand years ago to stabilize the jade. Most of the re-cutting and initial re-polishing of the vessel was also performed during this period, as was the secondary gold re-gilding. This will become much more clear in the following photos and especially in part three of the series, as we get to most of the microscopic photographs. The following three photos are of a similar type of repair performed on an old Tang-Song Dynasty wine jar.

Signed Tang-Song Dynasty Wine Jar with Similar Lacquer Repair

Close Up of Old Lacquer Repair to Wine Vessel

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

Macro Photo of Lacquer & Temper Repair to Pottery Wine Vessel

Above Photo Taken with Canon EOS XSi Using MPE 65mm f/2.8 1-5X Macro Lens At 3X

The above photographs show very clearly the type of repair that was performed on both the pottery vessel and the jade vessel, and the following pictures will show the Macro and microscopic pictures of the repair on the nephrite vessel. The large, late Eastern Zhou nephrite jade vessel and this old wine vessel are the only two pieces we have come across with this type of repair. Almost all of our jade and pottery items show a much higher finesse in their repairs, which leads us to believe both vessels were stabilized at approximately the same period in time, and re-buried most likely during the Mongol invasion period, some seven hundred-plus years ago. This is also borne out by the re-working of the vessel and the lacquer applied inside of the re-cutting of the designs, covered in a gold gilding much the same as some of the finest incised Ding pottery of the Song Dynasty, which was a mixture of garlic juice and gold. Not being the most secure of ways to gild a piece, as it does wear rather easily, still some fine examples exist, and by using the mercury-and-gold firing method, the re-applied gold gilding would most likely have burned off the lacquer used inside the re-cut designs, which would have given the gold and garlic mixture a fine surface to adhere to. Having lost most of the lacquer and re-gilding on the jade vessel leads us also to believe the second burial was performed ages ago, and this will become more clear as we continue.

Lacquer & Temper Repair On Foot of Jade Vessel

Lacquer Repair on Foot Of Jade Vessel Showing Degraded Gold Gilt

Above Two Photos Taken with Canon EOS XSi Using MPE 65mm f/2.8 1-5X Macro Lens at 3X

Lacquer & Temper Repair on Jade Vessel at 35X Power

Above Photo Taken with Canon EOS XSi at 35X Microscopic Power

In the three above photographs, the lacquer and temper used to fix the already degraded jade can be easily identified as the same type of repair as was used on the pottery wine vessel. The main difference we find in the two repairs is with the one on the jade vessel. On the jade, it appears as if it was most likely gold gilt at the time of repair, and being that it was more exposed to the elements, it underwent a greater amount of weathering and degradation in the secondary burial. Both the initial burial during the late Eastern Zhou Period and the secondary burial were quite obviously under unusual conditions of harshness. To have Khotan nephrite jade degrade as this vessel did during both burials could only be explained by very high moisture and extreme soil conditions which were either highly acidic or highly alkaline. The third burial of this amazing vessel was much more gentle on the jade, as will be seen in coming photographs. Please note the malachite deposits in all three above photographs where the copper impurities which were either mixed with the temper or were part of the gold gilt have degraded over the centuries. The iron oxidation of the jade is clearly seen in all of the photographs used in part one and part two of this series. It is readily observable that the iron oxidation occurred mostly from the first burial as it so permeates the vessel and underlies all repairs. This will occur sometimes if a river has changed course during the period of burial and floods the tomb with oxygenated water over long periods of time. Again, these types of conditions would attack the weakest and most porous portion of the nephrite to the greatest degree. The lack of lacquer and gold gilt remaining on the vessel attest to the harsh conditions of the secondary burial which, under normal conditions, should have been much better preserved in the lacquer at least, with the gold gilding taking the brunt of the degradation.

Degraded Nephrite With Original Tooling & Re-Cutting & Lacquer

Degraded & Oxidized Jade with Lacquer & Old Gold Gilt

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

To end up this second part of the three-part series on this incredible 2,300- year-old-plus jade vessel, we chose a little fun with the above two photographs showing parts of the dragon on the side of the lid of the vessel, under 35X microscopic power. While part three to come will be loaded with these types of images, we wanted to give a little extra send-off to part two, and if you are an aficionado of ancient archaic jades, as we obviously are, then this bit of eye candy showing the degraded Khotan-Hetian jade with its botryoidal looking pieces missing – the iron oxidized jade – the old original tooling – the secondary tooling with the old lacquer, and bits of thousand-year-old re-gilt gold. Hopefully the last part in this series will be finished in a couple of weeks, God willing and the creek don’t rise.

David Fredericks  –  Yulongwei

Antiquities, Plus…

Magnificent Late Eastern Zhou Nephrite Jade Funeral Vessel

- Old Repairs With New & Original Gold Gilt

Late Eastern Zhou Jade Vessel With Old Lacquer Repair

This beautiful Late Eastern Zhou (Warring States Period) Nephrite Jade Vessel is one of the cornerstone pieces in the Fredericks/McIntire Collection and exhibits some marvelous examples of what to look for in an original Period vessel.

Measuring approximately 17-1/2″ Height X 9-1/2″ Width X 4-1/2″ Depth, this wonderful restored vessel has some anomalies which set it apart in the collection, and while not being our largest vessel by any means, it still is one of the most unique true period pieces to grace our  collection. The size, shape, in-situ portions, unique (and old) repairs, original and later added gold-gilding and lacquer, and overall method of construction, truly make this vessel and the highly unusual Hetian Nephrite from which it was constructed,  a magnificent addition to any top collection in the world.

Fredericks/McIntire Collection: Large Jade Funeral Warring States Period Vessel

Side View Of 17-1/2" Jade Vessel Showing Re-Polished and In-Situ Portions

Top Three Photos Taken with Canon EOS XSi Using EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM Lens

One of the most amazing aspects of this particular vessel is the choice of the nephrite stone that was used for its construction – an extremely ‘banded’ nephrite which is often found in jade from the Khotan area, but rarely to this degree. This banding, and what must have been extremely corrosive soil conditions of both the original long-term burial and the subsequent burial following the original lacquer repair, re-cutting, re-polishing and re-gilding, while not being unheard of, is still quite a rarity in this type of vessel. The original stone was one in which there was a looser and more granular type of nephrite that wound its way through the stone, in a series from celadon to darker green, and to harder, more pure, and much more tightly-grained nephrite, which would be considered much more the norm to those of us who study nephrite under microscopic conditions. It is obvious that this particular stone was chosen for this vessel for its ‘power’, as it was made during the times when the Shamanic Ruling Families were still the only ones who could, by law, have possession of the “Stone Of Heaven”.  Jade objects from prior to this period are well known to have been made with such a ’special’ stone, as were those from almost every subsequent Dynastic Period which followed, and are still being used to this same effect today. Many nephrite ’purists’ tend to collect only the finest examples of Qing Dynasty whites, while it has always been our pleasure to examine the differing types of stones used from all periods, and we have found this approach much more satisfactory to our overall collection than just acquiring, for example, 18TH – 19Th C nephrite from the time when China was perfecting the art of copying their old designs and those of the Mugal of India. While we do find these pieces to be visually pleasing, they certainly lack the spontaneity of the original Masterpieces of Jade from the Neolithic Period onward, and to us carry a certain ‘taint’ of the time when China was still enslaved by the Manchurians.

Late Eastern Zhou Vessel Showing 'Banding' Of The Nephrite In The Different Colors

Top Of The Vessel Showing Same Nephrite Stone Used For The Lid

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

In the above two photographs, the aforementioned banding that was chosen for some of the sacred vessels can be easily discerned;  it is still used today to create some of the marvelous new works in jade, as were seen in the recent Tiangong Jiang Contest in Beijing. Creativity still abounds in China, and the country as a whole seems to be addressing both new designs and those that venerate the past. However, this portion of Part One is dedicated to various irregularities in nephrite from all over the globe, and particularly that of the Khotan – Hetian region of Turkanistan. The still-current theories on just what makes up nephrite jade, plus the way nephrite forms some 30 miles below the earth’s surface, are common to most books and periodicals about nephrite, with the vast majority of information being more or less ‘parroted’ for the past one hundred years or so. In truth, we have found both Nephrite jade and Jadeite Jade to be extremely more complex, and probably two of the most completely misunderstood stones that have ever been written about or examined under professional and exacting circumstances (with certain exceptions – notably by the American Natural History Museum Of New York, The Smithsonian Institution, and the Harvard University Mineralogical Department, along with some fascinating new discoveries by Mr. Beck from New Zealand). While this particular article will be dealing with certain anomalies present in nephritic jade, there will be other articles in the future showing fascinating anomalies with specimens of Jadeite Jade, that have rarely if ever been noticed, investigated, or documented in writings. The main fallacies concerning nephrite jade are that the stone is made up of one chemical composition, that it is almost entirely the same physical structure, and that it is metamorphic in origin. To take these misconceptions one-by-one will be the thrust of the next paragraphs. We will then continue with our analysis of the subject vessel with our Regular, Macro and Microscopic photography in the remainder of part one and the articles to follow.

While it is true that ‘pure’ nephrite does have a distinctive chemical formula, about which can be found all types of written material (as mentioned before), this is concerning ‘pure’ nephrite, which in our estimation is exhibited in a small minority of what has been considered ‘Jade’  throughout the course of history.  Surely there are many fine examples of  ’pure’ nephrite available for study, but even with these pieces, we often find under microscopic conditions miniature examples of quartz intrusions and other anomalies that defy  such a purist view. As we have written before, there was always a very simple and usable substitution when trying to define the stone characterized as Jade. This most certainly does not pertain to the many simulants, or Type-B treated jades and jadeites that have been on the market for years. This is simply pertaining to what most geologists refer to as ‘pure’ nephrite, and the many forms it takes and minerals it incorporates as it is ‘born’ and moves to the surface, undergoing conditions of heat, pressure and mixing with other types of minerals, and subjected to the upheavals and massive uplifting forces associated with such an uprising. We have explained before that in our opinion, it takes a ratio of approximately 85-90% pure nephrite to call a stone true nephrite. Even at this level of purity, there are minute traces of magnetite, pyrite and other inclusions. A specimen between 65-85% nephrite, in our opinion, should be deemed a hemi-jade, and at 45-65% nephrite, should be called a semi-jade. There are also those stones with the exact chemical composition of nephrite but which lack the nephritic fibers that help to differentiate a true nephrite from a simulant. Papers are available which identify the different minerals found in nephrite by using Raman Spectrography and infra-red spectrography, and some of them are quite remarkable.

Our second premise regarding the fallacy referred to above is that which maintains nephrite as an homogenous structure. To any true student of nephrite jade, this is perhaps the most ludicrous of all assumptions. With a simple loupe, and indeed even with the naked eye and a few dozen specimens from around the globe, the true world of nephrite jade starts to open its doors clearly and succinctly. There have been literally thousands of specimens, from finished sculptural pieces to examples of ‘rough’ nephrite jade that we have examined under microscopic conditions, and if one thing holds true, it is that very few of the nephrites from around the globe are the same. From every source we have examined, we have found similarities and untold anomalies. As in the case with the jade vase above, it is extremely clear that it is not an homogenous stone – all the same color, with the same exact impurities which give the stone its various colors, but rather, it is an awesome specimen of nephritic jade which clearly shows the marvelous diversity of the stone is one complete vessel. There are waves (flows) of color variations, and an entirely  different vein which runs through what would have been a huge vein from the mother-stone from which it separated so long ago. We have tightly-fibered areas (as tight as great Wyoming Nephrite Jade) and areas that are much more granular in composition (much like quartzite but still displaying nephritic tendencies) that have degraded and are visible under microscopic conditions, side by side, which we will demonstrate in the remaining part (or parts) of  this article.

Thirdly, we have the matter of metamorphism of nephrite, which we will address as we go further along in this article and others, as we have thousands of clearly visible instances of this wondrous stone not starting its existence from a metamorphic standpoint, but rather, at least one time in its history having been igneous in nature, as will be throughly explained and shown over the coming months, probably to the point of heavy redundancy.

Extremely Old Lacquer, Iron Filings & Grit Repair To Foot Rim

Later Lacquer & Secondary Gold-Gilt From First Re-Working Of Original Degraded Vessel

Concerning this exquisite example, we find these flows very common to nephrite jade. This can best be understood as a layering of sorts, with definitive lines running in any direction. In the case of this vessel we clearly see, even through the degradation and re-cut and re-polish, the still-existing lines of demarcation stemming from the change of minerals in the original stone. While parts of the vessel retain the differing shades of green indicating the presence of iron in varying amounts, we also can see the red iron oxide tints running through the vessel and indicating, even in these visibly lighter areas more centrally located, that either iron was present and has oxidized, or an iron oxide intrusion had taken place sometime during the vessel’s burials.  Under microscopic examination, it does not appear that an iron oxide intrusion has taken place, but rather that the nephrite that made up this portion of the vessel was less tightly-fibered and as a result, was more porous, causing what little iron there was in the lighter area to oxidize (this will be shown in later microscopic photographs).  As we know from observing so many samples of nephrite both in artifacts and those coming directly from known mined sources, we find an incredible amount of evidence which support the initial igneous theory of nephrite jade. While the original formation of nephrite that fills entire ‘lenses’, dikes, and all sorts of offshoots from the main body, is only as viscous as a hot jelly bean, it still must be viscous to be able to flow in the veins under pressure, as it does. From the actual hard-rock miners we have interviewed, we know that the deeper the vein goes, the more the density of the nephrite changes, and it has been noted that the higher in the vein the nephrite lies, the more dense and tightly fibered it becomes. While this may not be the case in all formations, it is still a fact, as I am now working on carving a wonderful piece of black Khotan nephrite that shows exacting striated layering of black and green and black and green, 8 layers deep. If one goes back in the previous articles on this web site to the pseudomorph writings, one can clearly see extremely old pseudomorphing  combined with later fracturing of the stone as it was lifted, and even new quartz crystals embedded into the same stone. There are so many countless examples of this ‘layering’ and cooling at different levels that we personally find it incredible that modern geology has not addressed these anomalies to date in anything approaching a scientific manner (however, there have been some fine studies done, but they seem to get buried as soon as they surface, and are not accepted by the community at large).

[Due to the holiday season, flu season, and a business to operate, this Part One will be finished asap. Please be patient and return for more of this first part and the parts to follow on this vessel, as the photographs we have are many, and it will take a while to verify and to finish.  Thank You,  David]

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).

30X Microscopic Photo of Dyed Plaque Above

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.

Shang Period Fenghuang at 35X Microscopic Power

Manganese Crystalline Formations Ang Estate Fenghuang

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.

30X Microscopic View of Dragons Eye: Chernysh Estate Sword Slide

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.

Ming Dynasty True White/Black Nephrite Toggle: Prosser Estate

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.

Macro Photo at 1X Prosser Estate Toggle

Macro Photo at 1X Prosser Estate Toggle

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

Antiquities, Plus…

An Authentic Shang Dynasty “Sardine Can-Opener Man” Early Shang Period (1,700-1,000 BCE) – Height: 5 cm

The First Of A Two Part Series Article

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

Provenance: Ang Ngo Gan Collection. We are extremely proud to be named the official Authenticators and Curators for the Ang Family of California, and their wondrous grouping of jade artifacts.  All the pieces we are representing were brought into the United States in 1950 by the Grandfather of Marilou Ang; Mr. Ang Ngo Gan, originally from Ching Kang, China, near Amoy, during the ‘Period of Confusion’.  He was a restaurateur and business man in California, and his collection is now represented by Antiquities, Plus… through his granddaughter Marilou Ang and her husband Richard Evangelista.

One of the most phenomenal discoveries we have made in our years of working with jade artifacts is this one small but mighty piece of green nephrite jade, carved in an archaic style that is known world-wide to be one of the strongest indicators of Shang Period vintage, with its plainly visible false-relief design. Any true aficionado of archaic jades will immediately recognize the style of this Shang Period artifact, as it is an almost identical form to one of most famous and published jades of all time, the renowned Shang Dynasty Nephrite Jade ‘Sardine Can-Opener Man’ in the well-known Sackler Collection ( see the book Jade, Consultant Editor Roger Keverne page 94, fig. 8, Height: 7 cm). While this fantastic piece of the jade-worker’s art has been published on numerous occasions, it might not be all that it seems, and in this article we will discuss the possibility of how it could be a later Ming Dynasty replication of the famous piece that is finely represented on the cover of book #5 of The Complete Collection Of Jades Unearthed In China, Gu Fang. This marvelous example of Shang Period workmanship can be found on page 24 of the aforementioned book, and was excavated from the tomb of Fuhao, Anyang, Henan Province (Height: 7 cm) . For those not possessing this great research material, it can be noted here that both it and the Sackler Piece look almost identical;  the exception being that the one on page 24 of The Complete Collection Of Jades Unearthed In China is made from a beautiful green nephrite (as is the Ang piece) and the Sackler item is supposedly made of a white and black nephrite. While we are certain the item is truly made of white nephrite jade, we believe it could also have been black-dyed, an effect much used in the Ming Dynasty to replicate the colors of the burial objects being unearthed, studied and copied by the literati of the period. Both the Sackler item and the piece found in Henan Province are described as late Shang Period, and it is our belief that this stylistically fits the period to perfection, while the Ang example, as we will see, is in a less advanced style and most likely from an earlier period, and not just the creation of a different artist.

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

From the above two pictures of the Ang Estate nephrite jade Sardine Can-Opener Man, we can see the same quality green stone that was used in the making of the one from Henan Province, with the major exceptions being between the darkened areas of the two differing stones, and the extreme, natural wear that appears on the Ang piece above. In both the Sackler Sardine Can-Opener Man, and the one from Henan, the false relief lines are much more delineated, as are the fingers and the entire design overall. The hair styles and clothing designs are much more pronounced – the execution of the carver’s art around the eyes, nose, mouth and ears has been refined to a greater degree, and is indicative of later Shang Period pieces, while older Shang Period items seem to be just beginning this transformation towards the realistic, from the exquisite but more stylistic approaches of the Neolithic pieces of the Hongshan and the Liangzhu Cultures in particular. (Please note that our analysis of the other two carved figures is by photograph only). Also, the black that is seen on the Henan piece appears to be more a condition of the nephrite itself, while the blackened areas on the Ang Estate piece, as will be shown in the macro and microscopic picture to follow, are caused by the conditions of environment, and degradation. The darkened areas of the Sackler piece, under photographic analysis alone, appear to differ from both above-mentioned examples, and we will make our best effort to show this reasoning in both regular and close-up photography as we proceed with this back-to-back, two-article series (as we believe that for most folks, this is too much information to be properly absorbed in one long article).

Right Profile View

Left Profile View

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

The above two photographs offer us a wonderful view of the ensuing degradation from long-term burial. This fine example of early Shang Period jade art is a 100% in-situ piece, having only the most minimal of cleanings; meaning it has only been washed of its accompanying tomb dirt, and never re-polished in any manner. The little shine that does occur on the piece comes only from the fondling of a favorite item, where skin oils penetrated the piece. This effect became very apparent early on in our investigation of the item, after it was removed from a three-week soaking in pure acetone. The piece came out of the acetone exactly as it went in, without the presence of new waxes, which turn the surface to a cloudy, whitened appearance.  (By ‘newer’, it should be noted that this would mean ‘during the last decade or so’). [It has been the custom  for hundreds, if not thousands of years, to use various coatings to protect, delineate or accentuate the fine details that have been rubbed with sacred red iron oxides, cinnabar, and/or black and red lacquers, and sometimes, various paints. We find that on older waxed pieces, the tendency is for the wax to remain if  it is at least approximately fifty to one hundred years old; then, repeated soaking and cleaning with our power sprayer may be necessary, if there are indications of even older tool markings or coatings beneath what is visible after the initial soaking and cleaning. Even after three weeks of soaking, the coating is sound and secure.  (It should be noted here that the Chinese replicators, having always possessed the ability to read and discern, have recently returned to a prior practice of darkening a stone with a colorant that defies its removal with acetone).  We have had to revert back to an old learned method of removal by using heated oxalic acid on the particular item for approximately 15 minutes, followed by an hour-long soaking in regular household bleach. It it sometimes necessary to repeat the oxalic acid bath for the approximate amount of time referred to, followed by a second (overnight) soaking in bleach, which will remove the remainder of the colorant. In some instances, the coloring will be removed by the warm oxalic acid bath alone, in a matter of seconds.]

Photo Taken with Canon EOS XSi using MPE 65mm f/2.8 1-5X Macro Lens

A marvelous close up photograph using only 1X power of the macro lens starts to reveal the natural deposits that are associated with long term burial objects. The original degradation to the green nephrite begins to show us the extent of time in burial, and some of the conditions that were present during this burial. The drilling tool marks, which  begin to show up under this magnification, can be more easily discerned in the hole to the viewer’s right, but even with the fuzziness (due to the field of view of the macro lens), the drill marks (which occur due to the addition of fresh, coarser grit during the drilling, causing the deeper marks as the grit breaks down from the drilling; the higher ridges form until the addition of more coarse grit causes the next deeper groove), can still be discerned in the left side of the conically-drilled suspension hole. The natural manganese left from decomposed vegetative matter can still be seen in the darkened areas, both in the holes and over the surface of the hairdo, or decorated head piece.

Photo Taken with Canon EOS XSi Using MPE 65mm f/2.8 1X5 Macro Lens

More of the natural mineral and organic deposits can be seen in this photo, using the macro lens at only 1X of its power range. We can easily see the false relief technique so definitive of the Shang Period, but more importantly, inside the grooves left by the artist, we can now easily identify the fact that the piece is 100% in-situ, with no re-cutting or re-polishing, as the inside of the design carries the exact same original organic and mineral deposits, along with the identical natural degradation, as the outside. The determination that no artificial aging of the stone has occurred, had already been ascertained by the methods mentioned above, and hours under the microscope had revealed other anomalies that are impossible to fake, and will be well-described during the remainder of this article. The following is a short series of photographs taken at the 3x power setting of the macro lens, which the reader may peruse and study at their leisure.

Above Photos Taken with Canon EOS XSi Using MPE 65mm f/2.8 1-5X Macro Lens

As can be seen in the above five photographs, we have deeper close-up views of the degradation to the nephrite jade artifact, and the remaining natural organics, oxidation of the iron in the jade, manganese deposits starting to define themselves, and the introduction to most of our readers of the concept of petrification of organic material on antiquities stemming from specific burial conditions. First found in the early 1990’s under a loupe, while doing investigation on old polishes vs. modern techniques of a quick roughing-out of replications, and the ensuing ways they were polishing, burning, dying, using strong acids and alkalies, re-polishing and waxing the pieces coming out Hong Kong and being sold for 99 cents plus four dollars shipping, we found a most stunning example of an old Fenghuang, or Red Bird of the south (Phoenix), which at the time was suspicious due the fact that it had been lightly dyed, with the accompanying applied obligatory mud. After throughly cleaning the item, and during inspection under a 20 power loupe of every square centimeter (as is always accomplished with every piece we authenticate), I found my first example of full petrification in a perfect portion of a leaf that had, under ideal conditions, totally petrified. Only the veins of the leaf portion had remained, but the most curious part to me at the time was that the cross-hatched veins of the leaf had actually turned into the stone, and were exactly the same color as the stone.  In addition to this, the petrified portions of the leaf were raised above the surface of the stone. Hence, my first encounter with a perfect example of total petrification of organic detritus. This piece was taken to the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco and verified by Terese Tse Bartholomew, Michael Knight and He Li, when I asked Terese, “How could they (the Chinese) fake this?”, Terese answered, “They can’t.”  At that time, in approximately 2004, both myself and Ms. McIntire were  contributing members to the Asian Art Museum, and I was doing a great deal of research at this wonderful facility, and the entire proceedings were witnessed and taped from their amazing security room in the basement. It was at this point that we started to go into such depths of authentication on our entire collection, and those of others who asked us to verify their pieces. Since this initial encounter, I have found a new world that exists under microscopic conditions, and have identified many more examples of petrified detritus, and today we possess many fine examples, along with other pieces we represent. Also around this time, we started to find the curious tracks that roots make on jade; when other burial conditions exist, the  roots do not just die and adhere to petrify, but rather live so long on the stone that they actually ‘eat’ into the stone in their lifetime, leaving a most defining tree-root track, indicating that it has been eaten away by the roots, and if never re-polished off, leave their indisputable marks of authenticity on both stone objects and pottery. While Archeologists rightfully call any mineralization of organic material ‘petrification’, there are, without a doubt, varying degrees, from early mineralization to full petrification (like agatization), but this fully petrified state, whether in mineralization or a full petrification where the detritus actually becomes the stone, has never been found by us in ground burials younger than the approximate two thousand-year-old age mark. We have many fine example of shipwreck pottery showing mineralized organic roots from the 13Th to 15Th Century, but due to the higher moisture and mineral content of the sea, I have never personally considered them  the same, even though the effect has occurred (with the exception of a piece going all the way into what I would term ‘full petrification’; becoming the stone, and showing the degree of ion transfer such as found in pseudomorphs). Note: Sometimes specimens of  petrified detritus are very hard to photograph, due to the field of vision with the lens used, lighting conditions, and the fact that they become the exact same color, as will be seen when we get to the microscopic photographs. Another word of caution to other authenticators and students of nephrite artifacts: When looking for various, impossible-to-fake aspects under microscopic conditions, one must not let the fibrous nature of true nephrite that shows up on burial items (especially when re-polished, with the softer portions worn away, leaving the toughest fibers to remain above the surface, similar to erosion of earth structures) to be misinterpreted as petrified tree roots. We use extreme caution in verifying by this method, and while we know we have passed over literally thousands of minute portions of true petrified detritus, it is only when the structure shows that the roots are extremely well-defined and much larger and longer than the accompanying nephritic fibers, that we use this tool as proof of authenticity (as in the two pictures above, which take on the unmistakable ‘river delta’ look as the root branches off naturally). It is a very easy trap to fall into, wishing things to be what we want them to be, simply because one has purchased an item, and naturally wants it to be real. We have found it much safer to steer on the side of caution, and to consider all items to be replications; only when we have exhausted every effort to make the item fake does it truly become authentic.

Photo Taken with Canon EOS XSi at 30X Microscopic Power

This strong photograph shows the inside surface of the left side (viewing straight-on) of the suspension hole in the Ang Estate Sardine Can-Opener Man. It clearly shows the undisturbed, in-situ condition of a true Shang Period drilled hole, with its accompanying varying depths of drilling marks due to the addition of the coarser grits, as mentioned earlier. Also, the iron in the original, all green nephrite jade is extremely oxidized, as evidenced by the reddish portions of the photograph. Please note the natural pitting that occurs inside the grooves of a genuine  artifact. This suspension hole would have been quick to fill up with silt from the burial, and thus it is protected more from the tectonic movements that abrade the outside of a burial object to a greater extent. When we see the acid-etched replications, the suspension holes have that very familiar look of being the same as the outside, and since most common replicators today use a hemi-jade or serpentine, one gets those ‘plates’ of rugged-looking tremolite or actinolite ‘bunches’ that puzzle so many people, and appear so old in the photographs. Another note of caution: On other types of replications, under the view of even a 10X power loupe, the drill hole will appear to be smoother, whiter (from recent tooling), and the grooves not as deep. But, this can also occur on a genuine artifact if it has been re-cut and re-polished in the more modern way, using newer diamond tooling methods; then, extra special care must be taken to find the areas that could not be faked, and sometimes it will be in just one  line or groove, missed when the re-cutting was performed. Even my own carvings show this effect while using mostly monolithic diamond tools that are made entirely of diamonds suspended in a hard medium. Now take into account that the Chinese have learned to mimic the old tooling methods, and started several years ago to use modern diamond tools to ‘rough’ out a piece, and then go back over it with old-style tools to give it that old-tooling look before polishing the piece, in just one manner in which they make them. These can usually be discerned by removing all waxes, which may take up to four separate cleanings, and picking the wax out of the grooves with an acupuncture needle to finally get to the bottom of the groove, and then finding the modern diamond tooling marks there where the old-style tools cannot reach. This is just another of of the more than twenty different ways we have discovered how they replicate, and the techniques are constantly being refined. This is the reason we spend in excess of $20,000 each year just buying the newest, most modern fakes in ‘jade’, pottery and bronze. I will endeavor to keep ‘passing’ along these little secrets as the articles continue.

Above Two Photos Taken With Canon EOS XSi Using 30X Microscopic Power

The two above photographs show the original, natural and 100% in-situ Manganese deposits, which are in reality, very uncommon from areas of Northern China, and especially the more North and West of Beijing towards the more arid regions approaching Mongolia. On some of our items, we have to get to 45X microscopic power to locate any Manganese deposits. These might be ‘tucked away’ in so little a place as a small section of nephritic material which has been chipped off, and a pocket  with the minute trace of Manganese crystalline growth can be found. When a piece has been re-polished (as most true artifacts are),  there may only be one small spot on an entire artifact, and sometimes there is none at all to be found. As can be ascertained with this fantastic specimen, the tomb conditions were moist, and enough manganese was present in the surrounding soils (both in the organic material that was present in the soil at burial, and that which grew into it at a later date), that not only were the conditions right for the manganese crystal growth to occur, but those ’special’ conditions were present to allow even the petrification of some of the organic material. One very important aspect of the above two pictures is the nephritic fibers which are showing up quite nicely at this magnification and can be easily compared to the two following 30X microscopic photographs, which shows roots in the later mineralization stage inside one of the suspension holes, and the totally petrified tree roots in in the last photograph, in much greater detail.

Photo Taken with Canon EOS XSi Using 30X Microscopic Power

A wonderful photograph showing the edge of one of the suspension holes. This is such a marvelous photo because it shows us not only the later growth, mineralized (not totally turned to nephrite jade as yet) tree roots just inside the edge of the suspension hole, but it also clearly shows the through-transmission of the nephrite, and the depth to which the oxidation of the iron in the jade (the turning of the green nephrite to red, caused by the associated mineral iron, which initially turns pure white nephrite to green) has occurred naturally. Along with this, we also see the dark traces of Manganese still in the process of growing and adhering to the original surface material. The ‘calcification’ (degradation) of the nephrite is also clearly visible, as are the shadowy tooling marks inside the hole, due to the depth of field of the lens. The small ‘thread’ at the bottom of the picture is just a fine fiber caught by the ragged calcification as it was being positioned on a felt pad for the photograph.

Photo Taken with Canon EOS XSi Using 30X Microscopic Power

This photograph was very difficult for me to take because the positioning had to be just right with the lighting, and hand-held in my current setting, to get the shadows to play off the raised section of totally petrified tree roots. As one can imagine, in the petrification process, much of the original mass of the root is lost due to dehydration, along with a myriad of other factors that occur over the millennia it takes for this fascinating transformation from plant fiber to nephrite. If one looks carefully, one can see the tiny nephritic fibers between the petrified roots as they they take on their very characteristic ‘river delta’ pattern. Also, while viewing in person under the scope, one can get a very clear view as we manipulate the piece up and down, and from side to side.

In the second half of this article (which should be finished by week’s-end), we will delve more into the differences of the three known “Sardine Can-Opener Men”, and why we believe the one in the Sackler Collection could possibly be of Ming Dynasty vintage.

David Fredericks  –  Yulongwei

Antiquities, Plus

One of the Most Fabulous & Unique Nephrite Jades Ever Discovered

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

I believe almost all true Nephrite Jade aficionados were effectively ‘hooked’ by the “Stone of Heaven” through a singular event;  a single encounter with a particular piece of stone. For me it was at a very early age (somewhere in the neighborhood of 7 years old) in a barn in the Mid-West where I saw my first ‘treasure’, a carving stuck between two bales of hay at a good old farm auction.  It sure was green, and it sure was beautiful, with all the intricate little people, trees, animals and tiny houses, and even though the auction house put it up on the block after my discovery, and asking if “this was going to be for sale”, it sure didn’t end up meeting my budget by the time the gavel hit. But hooked I was, or perhaps smitten would be a better word, as no matter where life would take me after that, I never forgot that beautiful piece of stone and the wonderful carving on it.  Whether it was really Jade or just a green stone, and whether it was truly masterfully carved or just a nice little WWII tourist item, all I really can say is that 50 years later, I am still fascinated by jade, and fascinated by carving and artistry of all types, but particularly Chinese, like that first ‘greenstone’ carving I lost the bid on so many years ago. (I did end up buying at that auction a little carved greenstone fish that I will always swear was my first piece of jade, even if it wasn’t .

This tremendous example of gem-quality “Polar” Nephrite Jade was donated to us by Mr. Kirk Makepeace of Jade West & Jade Mine, out of his personal, private collection of specimens, for a series of articles in which we can continue to discuss some of the different qualities and characteristics of one of the world’s most fascinating and truly glorious (and also misunderstood) stones. In this series of articles, we are going to examine one of the most beautiful nephrite jades ever discovered, and compare it to several other extremely unique types of nephrite. We will study it by way of structure, texture, durability and carvability; but in luster and sheer beauty it will be extremely hard to find any nephrite that stands so high. The series will end some months from now (as I do run a full-time business with interests in jade and art), with a finished, polished carving, in which I hope to come close to fulfilling the potential of this marvelous specimen.

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

When the worlds finest Jade Carving Artists, Geologists, Mine Owners, Geophysicists, Artifact Specialists, Rare Specimen Traders, and just plain old aficionados of  Nephrite and Jadeite gather at the few venues dedicated to support this marvelous stone, certain common-use terms float about the conversations for hours, or days at a time. At shows like the Big Sur Jade Festival and the Jade Art Now Show, with each particular specimen or jade carving comes talk from all walks of life about each stone’s particular color and structure. Words like opacity, translucence, chatoyancy, ‘cream’, ’cheese’, jadeitite, texture, snowflake, flowing, ‘tight’, ‘flaky’, associated minerals, and hundreds more are just commonplace terms bandied about and not given much thought among those that have made the differing jades such an important part of their lives. In this one unique specimen called ‘Polar’, we find all that is written and talked about in the Stone of Heaven. It is perhaps the most representative sample of what nephrite truly is that I have ever run across, and to me it means “Jade in All Its Glory”. Preferences in the business vary, from certain types of nephrite because of their particular needs in carving, to the colors that fascinate them (like the purity and tightness of Edwards Black and certain Olive Wyoming stones), to the unique qualities of some of the famous New Zealand Jades and those from Australia, British Columbia, Siberia,  the different Jades from California, and indeed all over the world. All that is expressed and felt about the different types of Nephrite Jades is meaningful and true to those passionate individuals who hold their beliefs, but concerning everyone I have ever seen who prefers a certain stone like the beautiful blues of the California coast and other places, I have never seen anyone pass by a piece of Polar Jade, not stop and, half in awe,  make an exclamation of beauty, or simply mutter to themselves under their breath something like, ”simply stunning”. So now, just for the sake of this article, we will again put up the first picture to discuss the overall qualities.

Here we can see the awesome translucency that shows along the left edge of the picture, under just the regular photography lights. We can see the unique yellowish/green contrasts that come from the marriage of the Iron and the Chromium, but rather than the chromium garnets we find in say, Cassiar nephrite, the mix of the two metals is much more homogeneous in a fine piece of Polar, and tends to give an ‘ethereal’ glow to the stone. We still find areas (spots) of heavier Chromium concentrations that show up as the brilliant yellowish flakes we see in this picture, and later you will get to see under magnification the complexities that make up these unique portions. Also to be seen in this specimen, if looking closely,  are the associated metals in the tiny black spots of Magnetite. However, to me, the strangest formations that take place in Polar are the fairly total, translucent white areas that are so much like the finest Khotan translucent white nephrite that has been revered for millennia, mixed and swirled in with the unique cloudy actinolite fibrous areas we see, looking like cirrus clouds intermixing through a sky of green in an ‘otherworldly’ pattern found in no other nephrite I know of, to this degree. In my opinion, if this Polar Jade had been known to the great Qing Dynasty carvers from  China in the late 1850’s era, we would have seen the more popular Siberian Apple Green masterpieces replaced, and relegated to a secondary status by this, a  far superior stone with an inherently much more magnificent feel.

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

This close up of the above stone shows in great detail the ’swirling cloud’ effect that is so unique to Polar Jade, and while this close up ‘washes out’ a bit of the intense yellow/green color, it can still be seen where the light penetrates the stone on the left side of the photo. Also, to be seen are the little specks of Magnetite, showing up as small black dots over and inside the nephrite. While these Magnetite intrusions are similar to those found in Siberian Jades, they have a much different pattern on the whole, and show up more irregularly in the Polar, while they seem much more homogeneous in the Siberian samples we have examined. This is not to say one is better because of this placement, but it helps simplify identification for the less experienced  collector. Just as not all Polar jade is exactly the same, neither is the Siberian or other jades displaying these Magnetite specks, and by examining enough specimens from known sources, one starts to get a fairly good feel for the placement of a stone to the area from which it could have come from, by knowing some of the varying anomalies that occur in each area. Also, while sometimes we must speak in generalities concerning stone from differing areas, it should be noted here that some of the Siberian gem-quality stone is extremely fine and displays many of the characteristics we will be discussing in this article, but as of this date we have not seen a large piece of Siberian nephrite that even comes close to showing all the extremely unique characteristics found in this one piece of Polar jade. This is not to say that a piece of similar nephrite does not exist out there somewhere, or that a stone will not be found that has all of these extremely important characteristics of a “true stand-alone type”, but to date we know of no other nephrite that is quite like this exquisite stone, which came from a deposit that was so prolific and produced such quality.

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

Another fine photo, again showing  from a different viewpoint, some of the unique structural properties of Polar Jade in just a small close-up section of the stone. The fine translucence is clearly visible toward the right edge of the slab,  proximal to the outside rind. In this area we can see how a small, clear, white, translucent section goes all the way through this particular area to the rind on the other side. More of the cloudy, fibrous, and chatoyant swirling shows up in great detail, melding with the greener portions at this level, but will disappear when we get past the Macro lens photos and into the microscopic photos. The Magnetite ’specks’ are more concentrated on the outside edges of this specimen, but can be found deeper in the stone, as will be shown in some of the Macro lens and microscopic pictures. The highly unusual white “flakes” that one often sees in “snowflake” specimens will also reveal that they are not typical snowflake sections, but rather, are a formation unique to this particular stone, and as yet, are an unknown (to us) type of structure and mineralization. This will be very clear in the coming microscopic pictures.

Photo Taken with Canon EOS XSi Using MPE 65mm f/2.8 1-5X at 1X

Photo Taken with Canon EOS XSi Using MPE 65mm f/2.8 1-5X Lens at 2X

The two photos above show approximately the same area, but with differences in the Macro lens being set at only 1X power and the second photo at only 2X. The clear translucent area, with its cloud-like formations in this wonderful piece of Polar Jade, runs its entire length of approximately five inches, and clear through the slab that ranges from a negative edge to approximately one and a half inches in width. In the first picture, the cirrus cloud-like nature appears to be more of a surface effect on the Nephrite, but we can clearly see in photograph 2 that with the penetration of the Macro lens, the ’clouds’ actually show thoughout the stone in differing levels. This gives the jade a strong sense of depth and ’feel’, as one rolls the piece over in one’s hands. In the sunlight, it bestows the piece with a subtle glow of deep, translucent water green and a presence of water-like, flowing motion. Under the light in ‘house’ conditions, the entire color of the stone changes to one of deep emerald green with literally waves of  motion in the translucent portions, and bright green specks where the ’snowflake’ effect occurs. The difference in the sizes of the minuscule Magnetite particles, deeper in the ‘body of the jade, is accentuated greatly by the change from the 1x to the 2x Magnification of the Macro lens. This also accounts for difference in color seen in both photos. Both colors are true to the amount of light and magnification received.

Photo Taken with Canon EOS XSi Using 20X Microscopic Power

The above photograph taken under only 20X Magnification starts to show the cirrus cloud-like formations in the translucent area starting to disappear, while the true color of the Chromium and Iron mix of yellow/green begins to show up more. The Magnetite crystalline formations begin to show up as more than mere ’specks’, and we can begin the see the structural qualities of the snowflake anomalies that occur thoughout certain portions of the stone. One can start to see the snowflake patterns not as fractures in the stone (although there are a few small fractures that are natural or are due to the mining process), but almost as what one one could describe as ‘growths’ within the nephrite. While the whitened areas do start to take on a fibrous look at this power, and almost appear as a ‘mutton fat’ nephrite formed inside this stone, it is doubtful to us that this would be the case. In a nephritic stone such as this, there would seem to be just too high a mineral contamination for a solid, pure white nephrite to form. Not to say it can never occur, as one will sometimes see in Khotan Jade from Turkanistan just such a definite transition; but that is the point. The pieces we see coming from the White and Black Jade Rivers region, while oftentimes having such transitional colors (and many old nephrite artifacts of the archaic period were clearly chosen for this flowing transitional color effect), show their color ranges more on a linear, flowing development (much as with the flowing transitional zones in this piece), and not in the spotted manner we see here with this piece of Polar Jade. We think it would be a good study for someone like the GIA to examine these types of areas, and determine conclusively if it is nephritic in nature or something different. Perhaps a pseudomorph type of transition is occurring, or there truly are other types of crystalline growths occurring within the nephrites.

Photo Taken with Canon EOS XSi Using 30X Microscopic Power

The above photo was chosen just to show the awesome beauty of color that is so typical of what one finds in the most ‘emerald’ portions of Polar Jade. Taken close to the cross fracture from mining (as can be seen in photograph 2) this photograph shows a minor fracture on the polished skin on one side of the stone. The slight fracture is just refracting the light from the microscope and allowing us to see clearly the transitional zones of color. Magnetite crystals and minor white growths mentioned in the above paragraph can also be seen under the surface layer.

Photo Taken with Canon EOS XSi Using 35X Microscopic Power

This wonderful photograph shows certain aspects of Polar Jade at their finest. The translucence  and true depth of color become evident at the higher power used in this shot. The Magnetite crystals are even clearer, and the white growth spoken of previously can now be seen almost like coral under water. Another piece of Magnetite lies deeper inside the stone beneath the  white growth. The tightness of grain in the fibrous nature of this specific type of nephrite starts to become extremely obvious in the lack of fibers showing at 35X . It is an extremely tightly-fibered piece of nephrite, as will be seen in additional photographs at higher magnifications.

Photo Taken with Canon EOS XSi Using 40X Microscopic Power

At 40X magnification, we can start to see the nephritic fibers in this particular stone. Usually it quite easy to detect these nephritic fibers at powers as low as 10X to 20X, but here we have a very translucent stone and very small and tight fibers. It should be noted that the more opaque the stone, the easier it is to see the nephritic fibers. Some opaque jades like Wyoming Edwards Black and some of the olives, along with the famous Cowell Black discovered in Australia in 1972, are obvious exceptions to this rule. It really boils down to us that some jades, even from the same general area, are not at all the same but rather are so obviously different that this still puzzles us; why we find so little useful information in this area ever having been published. Our planned article on the different structures found in jades of the Khotan area will be a fine article to illustrate just how diverse nephrite jade truly is, even in a fairly generalized area.

Above Photos Taken with Canon EOS XSi Using 90X Microscopic Power

The above two photographs precisely show the fibrous nephritic nature of Kirk Makepeace’s Jade West/Jade Mine’s Polar Jade at 90X microscopic power. It has always amazed me that the best-known, and extemely copied, high-resolution photographs of both nephrite and jadeite are false color images, when it has long been within the scope of photography and geology to render true life photographs of both types of stones and show their real nature. While there have been many articles written about Mr. Makepeace and all of his adventures in the World of Jade, we want this series of articles, from polished specimen to finished carving, to stand alone as a testimony to the unique beauty and fascinating characteristics of this phenomenal stone.  Currently, it is our understanding that no more of this particular material is available from the Polar Mine; however, other fascinating jades are still being mined and marketed by Jade Mine.  But who knows what lies around the next bend?  We are sure that Mr. Makepeace will indeed be peering around that bend.

David Fredericks

Antiquities, Plus…

A Marvelous Example of an Authentic Hongshan Culture Wind Polished – Surface Find Pig Dragon Bi

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

This tremendous 100% In-Situ Hongshan Culture (approximately 5,500 – 2,500BCE) Nephrite Jade Pig Dragon Bi is being loaned for this article from a private East Coast Collection, and was originally traded from the Fredericks-McIntire Collection of Tucson, Arizona. On the side in the above view, we find the ’slickened’ look of a typical wind-polished Paleolithic or Neolithic stone item, and the associated degradation of an article that has been polished by water, wind and particulates for an extended period of time. This is the side that would have been downward-facing the longest during the passage of time, as the design is better preserved than that in the following picture. Also, you may notice an in-situ piece of agate that has been lodged in the mouth of the pig dragon, a technique that is commonly used as a detail in forgery. However, this particular agate sliver has actually become one with the stone through the aging process, as will be shown in the accompanying macro- and microscopic images. Most of the time, these types of stone ‘impregnations’ are accompanied by aliphatic cements or other types of glue, and just ‘pop’ right out using a fine metal pick, leaving the glue residues clearly visible, and easily removed.

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

In this photo we again see the characteristic wind-polished look that gives an artifact of antiquity such a beautiful sense of timeless durability, such as what we see in the old Acheulean hand axes from Africa and wonderful stone artifacts from other parts of the world where the dry windswept regions, with their occasional rain and slight organic material associations, create these lovely patinas. While these regional and climactic conditions do have more of a tendency to wear away tooling marks, they also leave us with other quite distinctive clues as to the time spent above ground, if one looks closely enough at the artifact to ascertain the approximate climactic environment to which it has been subjected. While this Pig Dragon Bi was most likely a funereal item, as most Hongshan artifacts of religious significance were, it was unearthed for an unknown reason at some point in its early history, and left to weather on the surface for millennia. Pig Dragon Bi’s were of extreme importance to the Hongshan Culture of ancient China, as attested to by the many examples of these burial objects to be found in the archaeological records of tombs of the old Shamanic lords and tribal leaders. But it does lead one to ask the following: how does a sacred nephrite stone that was reserved for the Shamanic elite ONLY, become so prevalent on the Internet today, with literally thousands being offered for sale daily. That question then leads one to doubt very seriously if there could possibly have been hundreds of thousands of Shamanic elite buried during neolithic times. In a lifetime of collecting, we have actually owned only eight authentic Pig Dragon Bi’s, but have seen literally thousands of replications, some with a starting bid as low as one US penny, plus shipping. Every year around the time of the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, I am subjected to people wanting to show me their ‘treasures’  by the hundreds, and telling me there is no way a person could make one that cheaply. My patent response is that a desperate man will do quite a bit of work for enough rice to keep his daughter fed throughout the winter, so that the family does not have to leave the little one beside the road.

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

This wonderful side view shows us all the characteristics of a genuine surface-find, wind-blown Hongshan Nephrite Jade. This Pig Dragon Bi was subjected to all of our usual pre-microscopic viewing tests; an extended soaking in acetone (which degrades newer waxes and helps in the removal by power sprayer of the waxes and accompanying dirt deposits used to replicate age), one in bleach (which removes dyes and applied iron filings extremely well, when a piece has had a light acid bath and then dyes and rust applied to make it look old), and a short oxalic acid bath to remove the deeply baked-on ’shoe polishes, dyes and mud’ that they have begun to use once again (as they did five years ago) because it is not effected by acetone, as non-baked-on newer waxes are. What you see here is a Pig Dragon Bi in its ‘as found’ condition, even after being scrubbed, cleaned and shot with our high-power water spray gun. What remains is what has legitimately adhered to the original nephrite after thousands of years. The dirt, oxidized iron, and manganese deposits you will see in the close up pictures are all now a part of the artifact, as is another anomaly that we have never seen in print before, but will explain as well as we possibly can, in photographs of the Pig Dragon Bi and some that we will use for comparison.

Photo Taken of Surface-Find Degradation on Pig Dragon Bi Using Canon EOS XSi and Canon MPE 65mm f/2.8 1-5X Lens at 1X

Photo Taken of Surface-Find Degradation on Pig Dragon Bi Using Canon EOS XSi and Canon MPE 65mm f/2.8 1-5X Lens at 2X

The two photographs above show at higher magnification the soil deposits still adhering to the darker green nephrite which the Hongshan carver chose for this Pig Dragon Bi. The photos also show the nephritic fibers, and how the windblown debris started to pit the softer fibers of the nephrite, leaving the tougher fibers to rise a bit above the surface, exposing them more to wind-polishing. Contemporary artists are well aware of this characteristic of nephrite; when they polish certain types of nephrite jade, the surface often shows these higher and lower areas. This can be used to great benefit when carving a new item. When one wishes to be free of this trait in the end product, however, wax can be used to mask it; alternatively, a type of nephrite like a Wyoming “Edwards Black” can be chosen instead. because the tightness of its grain is such that there is little or no chatoyancy in the stone, as the fibers are so tightly and uniformly compacted. The parts of the photos above that show the green jade starting to turn a whitish color are extremely important here, as they begin to illuminate a property of nephrite that has, to our knowledge, never been  discussed,  and which departs from the theories of degraded funereal nephrite artifacts (which are well-documented), and the ‘chicken bone’ effect that has never been adequately explained,  and which occurs in artifacts all the way from Neolithic jade funereal pieces to Qing Dynasty burial items. We are going to explain our theory on surface-find, degraded green nephrite jade with a whitish rind, by comparing it to the chemically very similar agate, from the quartz family, which occurs simultaneously in one amazing old artifact.

Photo Taken with Canon EOS XSi Using MPE 65mm f/2.8 1-5X Lens at 1X

Photo Taken with Canon EOS XSi Using MPE 65mm f/2.8 1-5X at 2X

Both photographs above show a degraded sliver of agate that has become fused into the jade mouth of the Hongshan Pig Dragon Bi. The first photograph was taken at 1X with our Macro Lens, and the second at 2X. In both photos we can see the exact same deposits adhering to both the agate and the nephrite of the Pig Dragon Bi. Also, we can see the clearer portion of the agate and the more degraded whitish sections that match the white portions of the nephrite, in both photographs above and in the previous close-ups. In the next photograph, taken at 40x power through the microscope, you will be able to see even more clearly the depth to which the the agate has degraded, and the ‘new’ clearer parts where the degraded agate (being more fracture-prone than nephrite) has chipped off, leaving a newer, ‘fresher’ surface. We believe that this white degradation of both the agate and nephrite occur in arid, wind-blown regions without the necessary moisture to turn the iron deposits in both the agate and the nephrite  into the much more familiar red rind of oxidation; rather, we believe it is more a factor of slight water intrusion into the stone, coupled mainly with ultraviolet light, which catalyzes this whitening process we see occurring on both stones simultaneously. Having had the unique opportunity to study, over the course of two-and-a-half years, in excess of a hundred pieces of degraded agate tools from Paleolithic to Neolithic sites, from the collection of Mr. Robert Willingham of Tucson, Arizona, under microscopic conditions, it has afforded me the exceptional experience of seeing all types of exotic lithic agate material in varying stages of degradation. Most of the pieces studied came from the famous Utah Agate Basin Area in which Mr. Willingham grew up and collected, but there have also been outstanding examples from Northern Africa, some dating back as far as 75,000 years or more. Many pieces studied had parts of the original core material left on them, and others had been re-chipped and re-used. Many of them showed evidence of which side of the artifact faced the ground the longest and which side had been more exposed to the harsh elements by facing upwards. We still retain numerous fine ’study’ examples in our collection, for on-going research.

Photo Taken with Canon EOS XSi Using 40X Microscopic Power on Agate Inside Mouth of the Pig Dragon Bi

In this photograph at 40X power, we can clearly see the broken-off degraded piece of agate in the white piece in the center of the picture, and to the right side of the photo we see the surface of the nephrite starting to degrade into the same white coloration. The portion in-between the old degraded agate and degrading nephrite is naturally adhered soil deposits, which have also ‘fused’ the agate to the nephrite on both sides where it got stuck in the crevice which was the mouth of the Pig Dragon Bi, a very long time ago. The portion of the agate to the left of the degraded white section has again started the degradation process, and with time and exposure to ultraviolet light, if left alone and not re-polished, will become whiter, and the degradation will increase in thickness. In the next few pictures, we will show some more examples of this phenomenon on different agates before we resume our microscopic study of the Pig Dragon Bi.

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

The photograph above shows a fine example of an approximately 75,000 year old North African agate stemmed point. This type is considered among the earliest of the true chipped points, and was most likely a knife or projectile point. Note the heavy degradation to the fractured and crumbling white ‘crust’ on the far right side of the photograph, and the lesser degraded portions in the center and along the wind polished edges. When these heavily degraded areas are subjected to a violent act, such as a good river tumbling after a driving rain, portions are knocked off and the process renews itself. The areas most prone to wind polishing usually take the longest time to degrade, but differing circumstances (like a climactic change or partial burial) will produce differing results over time.

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

The above photograph is of a 100% In-Situ Neolithic degraded agate ‘tool’. Some ‘re-chipping” can be seen along a few of the leading edges, and appear under microscopic observation to be places where the stone naturally fractured from impact, and were not caused by intentional re-sharpening efforts. In these areas we find remarkable opportunities to study the degrading patinas and re-patination over time. Also evident is which side lay upward, facing the sun for the longest period and which side was face down, as many pieces we studied were verified as to exactly how they were found, how much was covered up, and how much of the item was sticking out of the surrounding soils. This tool was also found in a ‘blow-out’ and has received quite a bit more natural tumbling and cleaning than the Pig Dragon Bi under discussion, or the African agate point above.

Photo Taken with Canon EOS XSi Under 40X Microscopic Power

This photo at 40X microscopic power is of one of the tiny broken-off pieces on the Neolithic Utah agate tool above, and shows the similarity to the breaks and the colors associated with the agate in the mouth of the Pig Dragon Bi, under identical microscopic conditions. Note: The colors are almost identical, the time frames match in that they are both from approximately the same period, and  they are both from approximately the same climactic conditions. Now we shall continue with more on the nephrite Pig Dragon Bi on its own.

Photo Taken with Canon EOS XSi Under 40X Microscopic Power

Above is a wonderful photograph showing all the above-mentioned attributes of an authentic surface-find, Neolithic nephrite jade, including the whitening effect from the ultraviolet catalyst on the jade surface, the soil that has totally penetrated the porous surface of the nephrite to the point of actually becoming one with the stone, and the effect of the wind polishing to bring out the shine of the nephritic fibers and even the areas of degradation and hardened soil adhesion. No other enhancements or treatments could be found on this artifact, nor any recent polishing marks, even using the microscope up to 90X magnification.

Photo Taken with Canon EOS XSI Under 40X power Magnification

This Manganese crystalline growth in the center of a depression of the Pig Dragon Bi again shows the 100% In-Situ nature of this artifact. Coupled with the dirt encrustation and the whitening of the dark green nephrite, this manganese crystal is just one more important bit of positive proof of extreme age in an incredible piece that has never seen another tool or polishing, other than the one it received from the Master Carver who made it over 5,500 years ago.

Photo Taken with Canon EOS XSi under 40X Microscopic Power Of Dead Tree Root Embedded Inside the Degradation of The Pig Dragon Bi’s Suspension Hole

Photo Taken with Canon EOS XSi under 40X Microscopic Power Of Dead Tree Root Embedded Inside the Degradation of The Pig Dragon Bi’s Suspension Hole

The above two photographs offer conclusive proof to us of the above statement that no re-tooling or intentional re-polishing has ever occurred on this surface-find, wind-polished Hongshan Pig Dragon Bi, as the presence of emerging dead tree or grass roots, from such a deep depression in the surface degradation inside the suspension hole, speaks volumes by itself.

David Fredericks

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