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…

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]

Late Eastern Zhao Period Royal Funeral Vessel

Transitional Re-Polished Grey Nephrite

Lidded Vessel

Originally with Total ‘Calcification’

Later Clear Lacquer Repair On Inside Leg Of Lid Top

Inside Macro Photo Of Dragon Mouth At 3X Macro

Above Photos Taken with Canon EOS XSi Using MPE 65mm f/2.8 Lens

The above two photographs were both taken with the Canon Macro lens with the top photo at 1x and the bottom photo at 3X.  Other than the finer, secondary re-polishing marks, the top photo shows the main evidence of a second restoration of the vessel. The clear lacquer repair to the once cracked nephrite jade is the only repair of its type on either the top or the bottom of the lidded vessel. This later, clear lacquer repair also occurs just underneath where the finer (whiter looking) secondary re-polishing marks are, and is only about one inch long. The first black lacquer repairs held the nephrite lid together tightly during the second burial, which we estimate at being approximately four hundred years. The reason for the close approximation for the secondary burial is due to the high possibility that this vessel was found at least in the Ming Dynasty Period and re-cut and re-polished through the deep degradation that had occurred under burial up until that time. The initial cracks on the lid and vessel were fixed during this time period with the black lacquer glue, in all the areas that were exposed from the re-polishing. Most likely this vessel was revered during this period, and then re-buried along with the ‘treasures’ of the owner during his internment. Having been later uncovered, the jade had degraded to a slightly greater degree (which precipitated the second, light re-polishing we see), and an initial crack was found during the second re-polishing which required the application of the clear lacquer glue to stabilize the area. In the second photograph above we can see under 3x of the Macro lens the tongue of the main Dragon and the still in-situ tip, which, as before, would have been considered too fragile to re-polish. The area on the side of the tongue appears to have tree roots attached from the second burial, but in fact they are areas of wax from the Ming Dynasty cleaning and polishing that have shrunk in size and ‘rippled’ into a shape resembling a tree-root track. The dust that remains is from the third burial, and had attached to the fresh wax of the second re-polishing, and in turn became part of the surface. This can easily be removed with a good scraping of the surface, but we chose to retain it for the eventual re-sale of the vessel, its removal to be preformed in front of the new owners, if so desired by them.

Area Of Old Black Lacquer Glue Repair to Lid

Old Black Lacquer Repair Running Through Degraded Jade

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

The two photographs above were both taken (as were all microscopic photos for this article) at 35X Magnification. This magnification keeps the pictures consistent and all that is needed for verification of the vessel can be found at this power and lower. In the upper photograph we can clearly see how the jade had cracked along the side of the lid (where this picture was taken) in Part Two of this three-part article. The old re-polishing marks can be distinguished from the newer light polishing by the pitting that occurs inside the horizontal degraded marks. Also, the general degradation to the jade around the initial black lacquer repair stands out in the waviness on the surface of the jade lid itself. When originally re-polished down through the deep degradation from the first burial, this area was cleaned and the lacquer glue applied and left to harden as it will in a moist environment between 60 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit, completely changing its chemical composition to the phenomenal glue that it is. After the glue hardened to their specifics, the vessel would have received a final ‘finish’ polish at a high number grit and would have appeared, after their waxing, to be shiny and almost new (minus the surrounding through-degradation). However, the first parts to start to degrade again would have been any soft areas and the remaining small sub-suface ‘damage zones’ from the recent re-polish. Even in so minute an area as the final high grit polish, the sub-surface to the nephrite jade is microscopically damaged and will be the first places new degradation will begin. This is why we get the secondary ‘bumpy’ surface look as the second re-polishing removes this thin degraded area. In the second photo above we can see an area where the first re-polishing never reached through to the beautiful grey nephrite in an area where the degradation from the original burial went too deep, and possibly all the way through the vessel. The lacquer glue in this crack shows up in stark contrast to the degraded jade surrounding it, and actually sticks out a bit from the surface, while the photograph sometimes makes it look like it is recessed. The old nephrite continued to degrade but the lacquer glue did not, as is the case even in glues of this sort that were originally used over three thousand years ago, as lacquer glue is impervious to water and other solvents in burial conditions. The only thing we have observed which could be called a weakness of this type of glue is that it will crack from sudden sideways shock, as it also appears to become more brittle the longer it cures.

Old Lacquer Repair Running Through Rough Re-Polished Area

Tip Of Original Degraded Tongue On Main Dragon Of Vessel

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

In the first photo above we can see one of the original, old black lacquer repairs to a crack in the vessel lid, which is in a place under the dragon on the lid . It must not have been deemed necessary on the second re-polishing of the vessel and lid to re-polish this portion, which is not-so- visible on inspection from the outside. In this photograph we can see, in the white portions that were not re-polished off during the second re-cleaning of the vessel, the old lacquer repair and the consequent degradation (calcification) from secondary burial. Also, the pitting that has occurred to the nephrite jade is quite evident at 35 X power under the microscope, as are the nephritic fibers of the original jade. The brown staining on this and other parts of the vessel result from the first re-polishing and will readily come off, as the old staining has adhered to the nephrite over the years since it was first applied as an ‘antiquating’ technique which has been used on re-polished funeral items for hundreds of years. There are times when this brown antiquating method will not be removed due to the depth it has penetrated the nephrite and the time it has been allowed to remain on the stone, and thus becomes a permanent part of the living sculpture. In the lower picture we find the tip of the 100% in-situ tongue, which amazingly has stayed intact as have all the tips of the teeth of the dragons on both the vessel and the lid. These were surely deemed too fragile to re-cut and re-polish, and obviously remain in their current condition because of the foresight of those who were performing the two separate re-polishings. Degradation on the these areas is almost totally complete and runs through the entire tips of these protrusions. Once again we find the brown wax used to polish the vessel after the first repair, re-cut and re-polish. Some of this could be carefully removed for the original end-buyer of the vessel, but in this case it actually adds to the overall look of the finished piece, and under normal lighting it does not take on the more darkened look as it does here under 35X magnification. To remove some of the brown would be to take a risk in breaking these degraded tips which in our opinion is not worth the attempt, unless it were performed entirely by chemical means, with no sanding or pressure of any kind. Also, at this magnification, the tip appears to have taken on a ’rounded’ look, but at normal viewing the tip appears pointed, as it was when it was first made.

First Re-Polishing Marks, Approximately Ming Dynasty Period

Second Re-Polishing Marks Over Old Ming Period Degraded Tooling

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

In the above two photograph we can now identify two entirely separate portions of the vessel which show both re-polishings that have been performed to date. In the upper photograph we we find the first re-polishing that was performed approximately 500 years ago, and has since worn away and pitted. Looking closely we can see the vertical polishing marks, after the vessel was roughly polished to remove most of the deep, white degradation. Over the years following, the conditions of burial were most assuredly drier than the conditions of the previous two thousand two hundred years or more, evidenced by the fact that the nephrite jade did not degrade to anywhere near the point that it had previously. This is not to say it didn’t degrade in some places (which it did), just that it was a drier burial, and some parts of the vessel received more moisture than others, presumably because of how it was protected during the second burial. In this top picture we find a rare spot that had been kept relatively dry and thus did not degrade into the ‘calcified’ white we so often see, and as such it gives us a tremendous photograph of what approximately 500 year-old polishing marks look like, in the way they have pitted yet still retain their vertical grooves from the re-polishing. To the viewer’s bottom right in the photograph, we can see that some of the original degradation had worked its way through the entire vessel, causing the first cleaner to stop at this point, as going farther would not have shown the beautiful grey jade off any more, but only detracted by going through the vessel and leaving a hole. In the second photograph we can see evidence of the same pitted first re-polishings, but in another area more accessible to the second person attempting the re-polish work. The secondary re-polishing marks stand out in stark contrast to the older polishing marks, as they are much more ‘fresh’ in nature and leave the tell-tale whitish marks of newer cut-and-polished jades. In the middle of the photograph we find the best evidence of the earlier polishing that clearly matches that which is in the first photo above, and the whiter/newer scratches around it. At the top of the second photograph can also be viewed the mostly-in-situ degradation which runs so deeply through the sides of the original vessel.

Original Period Tooling Marks Under Nose Of Main Dragon

Secondary White Lacquer Repair At 35X Magnification

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

In the uppermost of the two above photographs we can now see the earliest tooling marks still showing on this magnificent vessel. These are the original tooling marks left from the drilling of the groove under the nose of the large Dragon on the main portion of the vessel. These deep grooves were created as new heavy grit was added during the final ‘roughing-out’ stage of the vessel, and can clearly be seen in both the darkened waxed area and the sides. This is what we would call ‘damage zone’ degradation, as the heavier grit crushes the micro-structure of the nephrite below the surface, and tends to degrade and wear-out there first. This is one of the main reasons we feel a very late Warring States Period dating  is justified for the vessel; however, it could also be of early Han Dynasty Vintage. What we find in the Royal pieces of the late Warring States Period is a ‘rougher’ original polish to the vessel itself, and especially in the tight areas where it was hardest to reach. The Royal Vessels of this period are extremely difficult to differentiate from their early Han Dynasty ‘cousins’, because a Royal piece is not a common Eastern Zhou Period subject, but one that was made for Royalty, and as such, the time and execution, choice of stone, and manner of polish would have been of the highest standard. However, when comparing those of the Warring States Period to those of the Han Dynasty, we find a finer polishing in the tighter grooves and harder-to-access places on the vessels, and even though the marvelously pierced tail of the dragon on the lid of the vessel would definitely suggest a Han Dynasty dating, we feel it is more in the smaller details that we find the true age of the vessel, as will be seen in subsequent photos. Since we are only speaking of a transitional period of perhaps as short as 50 years, this makes the exact dating of the vessel rather difficult, and we have to rely on what we see through the microscope and that which (as was described in an earlier section of this three-part series) the vessel tells us by the old Chinese method of ‘feel’. In the second photograph above, we find the definitive color of the second ‘white’ lacquer repair under 35X magnification. It is almost certain this color was chosen for the second repair as it was inside a foot on the lid of the vessel, and more closely resembled the color of the degraded jade and the surrounding material. It is not a ‘worn-off’ piece of lacquer glue where the dark has been removed, as the original dark lacquer from the initial repair was purposefully made blacker to match the darker grey of the jade, and was even used over the white parts of the jade. It also shows signs of  having been sanded or re-polished (as can be seen in the first photograph of this third part of the series). Additionally, it appears to have been ’squeezed into’ the crack that had developed over the years, with much care and very little over-flow. This repair is from a totally different period, which we would discern to be approximately four hundred years after the initial black lacquer repair, and was most likely a repair to a slight crack that had ‘given way’ during the second burial of the vessel. It is interesting to note that some of the cracks in the Chinese burial nephrite jades, by the nature of some types of jade from the Khotan area, can reach one sixteenth of an inch or wider, and still maintain their integrity and not crack all the way through, but rather follow a pattern presumably laid down as the jade was cooling (as we often find nephrite from this area with a highly layered effect, to be shown in a subsequent article).

100% In-Situ Tooling Marks From Original Manufacture - Inside Legs of Lid

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100% In-Situ Tooling Marks From Original Tooling of the Dragon Vessel - Inside Legs of Lid

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

In both of the above photographs we find two separate areas underneath the Dragon on the top of the lid where no re-polishing has taken place in either the first or the second time this vessel was removed from burial, and re-cut and re-polished. In both photos, all that can be seen are the original drilling marks which made the underside of the Dragon on the lid. The amount of wear and degradation these original tooling marks have seen over time is extremely evident as small grooves in the drilling got much wider and deeper over time, as the thawing and freezing occurred and the grooves progressively wore away. As mentioned above, this is more indicative of later Warring States attention-to-detail in most vessels for High Royalty. However, there are several anomalies of which one needs to be careful in determining which case scenario is most likely. First: for High Royalty, would be the case for how long the person was expected to live. In the case of younger Royalty, given an acceptable degree of similar quality workmanship, the longer the Royal lived, the more time that would have been available for the artists to exact the finest quality of workmanship, from the beginning in the working of the stone, down to the final steps of polishing. (Indeed, I find it the hardest to determine smaller pieces finished and polished by a master, that have undergone dramatic changes during burial – such as the Bi written about here in the TimelessJade.com article “Incredible Oxidized Warring States Period Bi – 100% In-Situ). Similarly, if a Royal personage was not of the best of health, adequate time to perform the exacting precision needed to make certain types of vessels (using such primitive tooling techniques, when compared to contemporary methods), to the degree of standards as for one who lived to an old age, would just not have been there. In some of these vessels we see a more ‘hurried’ approach to certain areas, such as the insides of the vessels where the core drilling marks were not fully polished, out and the general ‘detailing’ of the vessel may not have been quite up to par, given the shortened time periods involved. Second:  the case that not all artists are as ‘gifted’ in the final two stages of crafting of a vessel – the master carving of a roughed-out piece and the final degree of polishing. We see this same scenario throughout all of history, and it is why a masterpiece of any period depends also on these things mentioned. Third: this case lies in the stone itself;  it has always boggled us how much good quality stone came into the area most populated during these times of strife, such as the Warring States Period, when it is very clear that at other times of unsettlement of government and territories in China’s past, the supply of this stone did not flow nearly as well as we see in this surrounding period of perhaps 500 years. Given the amount of turmoil that occurred in this era, from the middle of the Warring States Period through the Western Han Dynasty, it is quite remarkable that nephrite jade of such quality and quantity was still able to cross the many borders it had to traverse, from the Turkanistan Region through to the more civilized areas of China.

Re-Cut & Re-Polished 'Feather' On Dragon With In-Situ 'Missed Portion'

Second Missed Re-Cut & Re-Polished Feather on Dragon

Above Two Photos Taken with Canon EOS XSi Under35X Microscopic Power

In the above two photographs we can see two different areas where the ‘feathers’ were re-cut on the Dragon’s legs. It is often in parts like these where we will find some of the only true remaining vestiges of an original jade. While following the outline (sometimes drawn on) the person who is doing the re-cuting of a design will lift his wheel just a bit short of the exact ending of an old and original cut. This leaves us with a wonderful opportunity to explore in depth the two differing tooling marks. In these areas we can often determine the type of tool and technology that was used to do the re-cutting, and also a marvelous opportunity to study the original degradation left in the part missed during the new re-cutting. In the top photograph we can see where just a small amount of re-cutting occurred along an edge where the feather was tapering off, as they do towards the top and bottom of the feathering technique. Just below the white degraded portion seen in the photograph is the remainder of the original degraded feather. As we travel up and at an angle, we start to see the new grinding-wheel marks go off upwards and sideways from the remains of the pitted-out old original tooling marks. In the last photograph of  two feathers, we can see the approximately 500 year-old re-cuts, and the same fine sanding that has now started to degrade away, as the pitting in the old sanding-marks betrays. Towards the bottom of the picture there is even a small black/metallic piece of manganese, which appears to have been growing since the vessel was in its original burial, and was missed when the re-polishing was done all those years ago. Most likely this piece of manganese started when inside the degraded feather, and it was just a bit of luck that this particle prevailed.

[For our next article we are going to do another of our large vessels from the Eastern Zhao Period, which should prove to be a nice 'eye-opener' for those who enjoy this type of investigation. We will continue after that with more articles on different types of Nephrite and Jadeite under microscopic conditions, with a few wonderful smaller jades and their replicated counterparts, side by side.]

David Fredericks  –  Yulongwei

Antiquities, Plus…

Late Eastern Zhao Period Royal Funeral Vessel

Transitional Re-Polished Grey Nephrite

Lidded Vessel

Originally with Total ‘Calcification’

Large Lidded Warring States Grey Nephrite Dragon Vessel

Inside View of Re-Polished Grey Nephrite Vessel, Approx. 2,300 Years Old

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

In continuation of our last article, we return to the degraded original vessel most likely made for a King in the Late Warring States period (475 – 221 BCE). We do not use the term ‘Made for a King’ lightly. We examine the vessel and type of jade used and preferred by Royalty of the particular era. Stylistic analysis is well-defined in the many fine publications on jade that have graced the shelves for years, with refinements being added with every certified archeological dig that creeps out (using this word because of the often extremely slow nature of publication from discovery to enough acceptance of anything ‘controversial’).  It is well-documented that the Kings (there were no Emperors at this time) in the Warring States Period were extremely fond of my personal favorite nephrite, the finely grained and flowing-textured translucent white jade, or Ying yu as it is called in China. This led to the later ‘Mutton Fat’ white jade of the Han Dynastic preference – although we have personally seen just as many Han Dynasty translucent white pieces as we have seen mutton fat, and believe the ’so called’ preference to be more of a story that was repeated enough till it started being held as truth, such as the misconception of Rhinoceros horn being used as an aphrodisiac, when in fact it was the preferred medicine for headaches. This particular dark grey nephrite jade we find in the main subject of this article, as far as we can research, is much more rare than the white jade (as is also Black Jade and Yellow Jade, and in our experience, the rarest of all – the Dark Grey with the copper alloy causing the true “Blood” Jade, known to have been found in the Warring States Period). Design-wise, this is one of the only vessels we have ever seen that does not portray a Feng Huang (Red Bird of the South) on it. While both the Dragon and the Fenghuang have been well-documented as symbols of Royalty on religious artifacts long before the Han Dynastic Period (note that some older publications give this dating as the ‘birth’ of the Royal symbols), this fantastic lidded vessel only shows the Dragon in many of its then-known forms. We would take this to be an almost certain sign of exclusively Male Royalty, as indicated by the lack of the Fenghuang or any other motif, such as the often prevalent Taotei that adorns so many fine vessels in Jade, Pottery and Bronze throughout millennia. The original vessel, having far too deep degradation to have even a remote possibility of being a Ming Dynasty piece, even in the worst imaginable possible burial conditions, is left to scholars of these large types of ritual vessels to be either a Western Han or a late Warring States Sacred Vessel (and most that truly know old jades will say Han; the rest, we do not really care about – not meaning to be pompous here – they just forgot to keep learning, and lacked the large real vessels and their fake counterparts to study in depth). While all indications, which will be mentioned and shown, truly place this masterfully worked vessel in a Han Dynasty context, we will offer our opinion as to why it should be placed more neatly in the Late Warring States era, as these ‘True’ type of large vessels have only been found in the Late Eastern Zhao Period, the Han Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty.

Inside View Of Warring States Vessel Showing Through-Degradation

Inside View Of Lid Showing Through-Degradation And Lacquer Repair

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

In old burial jades, the first thing any true professional (one who knows and has touched enough real items) will do is ‘feel’ the jade. Jade under such inspection, as most people know, feels cool to the touch. What most people have never heard is that it will also ‘rob’ the heat from your body and is best felt by softly touching the jade with one’s finger and feeling the jade ’steal’ the heat from the skin surface where the finger touches. It is a subtle sensation, to be sure, but it is easily mastered with a little quiet and very little practice. From that initial feeling of the stone, one then looks for signs of decomposition of the nephrite itself from burial conditions. This is sometimes extremely easy to see and sometimes it is almost impossible to see, if the jade has been re-polished very throughly, and had been in a very corrosive environment. Some tombs were composed of naturally acidic or alkaline soils, and some were in wetter or dryer environments. Without having been there at the actual time of removal from the soil, and knowing that many pieces had been re-cut and re-polished more than once, and buried more than once, as mentioned before, one must then assess by the object alone, the likely course of events and conditions which have occurred to the item from the time the piece was first made until the present moment when it’s being viewed and studied. This is where it truly takes a professional (whether academic or private), and it takes someone who has handled enough genuine pieces, from in-situ items to all stages and techniques of restoration, and who knows the techniques used to replicate archaic and archaistic jades for centuries. [The hardest thing we ever experienced years ago while learning this, when we were making the discoveries that are to be freely shared on this site, was to find a person with true knowledge and without a personal agenda of some sort -that person was never found, and so, we had to do all of it on our own through literally thousands of hours under microscopic conditions, over years' time.] In the two photographs above we find possibly the easiest determining factor of age, and one about which the least is written. In through-degradation of jade is found one of the greatest determining factors of ancient jades. It is when a real professional holds a piece of our collection and those we represent, and without prompting, takes the piece to bright light and looks at this through-transmission of light, just on a small edge; then we know we have a professional (whether declared or not), in our midst. [This is for you, Peter.] As many know, nephrite is one of the ‘toughest’ stones on the planet – what not very many know is that it is not wholly homogenous, and its subtleties and porosity are rarely discussed. Yet, it is in this porosity and nonhomogeneity that lies the true nature of nephrite jade, and the ability to ascertain burial age by degradation of the stone itself, and get a glimpse of the conditions sustained by an object of burial of nearly any length of time. When we see degradation that travels through the jade sideways to such a great depth, as seen above, we know there were times of high moisture and some corrosive soil mixture to have caused such a deep pitting in the object. It begins small, as in all things, with minute degradation of the ‘weaker’ portions of the nephrite, and continues to grow inwards and expand outwards, as time, conditions, and moisture continue to provide a conducive environment. We have seen the same effect on obvious burial items which almost certainly got their ’start’ with the well-known excretion of body fluids and their acidic reactions to the ancient jade; however, in the case of this vase it would be a most unlikely cause, as such an item of reverence would not be placed directly on the body of the deceased, and most likely not be proximal enough to the enclosed confines of the casket and liner. With this deep degradation we see almost no chance of this vessel being a cave burial artifact, and much more in line with the types of burials we find from the Warring States Period (as in the construction of the Marquis Xi’s tomb) and those of the Qin Dynasty and Western Han Dynastic Period. Another note along this vein which we have never seen discussed is the through-degradation of a lidded vessel as compared to one that has been next to it that is not lidded, as the lidded one will undoubtably hold moisture longer and degrade quicker and further than a non-lidded vessel, given that the tomb was not entirely flooded.

Area Of Oldest Lacquer Repair On The Lid Of The Vessel

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

With this last photo using our regular lens, and before going into the Macro and Microscopic Photographs, we wish to discuss some of the peculiar aspects of this significant vessel, including its magnificent styling and unusual size. Starting with the size, most Museums (including China’s most prominent) and private collections have never had the opportunity to own the old sacred vessels of this size, or larger, and as such have a very hard time believing these magnificent vessels truly exist. The fact of the matter is they not only exist but are fairly common within the Chinese Museum sphere of knowledge and collections. Approximately two and one half years ago, Dr Timothy Jones PhD., who works alongside us, was invited to Beijing Museum by staff for a visit. During his stay with the Museum, he was introduced to several rooms in which were kept the older and rarer vessels (such as the  Blood Jade vessels we have) that are not normally on display to the public. These are considered extremely sacred vessels, and are just not on display for public viewing. This does not mean they do not exist – simply put, they are highly revered, and are not part of the mainstream of knowledge concerning burial jades in particular. While we personally have some vessels much larger than this that are indeed jade and authentic, it is not as much a mystery as some would believe. They did, and they still do exist, and when the Chinese Professionals come to see our vessels, it is not with incredulity that they stand, but rather in awe of the piece itself, given the time frame of their creation and the sacred manner in which they were used. Some of these large vessels are in almost in-situ condition, and others have been repaired, but all the authentic ones are just that, and the replications were made from these tremendous originals. There were some that were originally made from separate pieces fitted together, and some where the original stone was large enough to accommodate the entire massive vessel. The most amazing thing to us, aside from the tremendous amount of labor that went into their creation, is the sheer time and effort involved in their transport; the distances traveled and manpower and supplies needed just to move the stones from the Turkanistan region of that time, and bring them to those various artisans who imagined their final awe-inspiring designs, and who worked the stone into those sacred creations so long ago, is almost inconceivable. In addition, this will be the only occasion that we will discuss the vague particulars of how we came by the vast majority of the major portion of our collection (as the particulars are really no one’s business but those from whom we obtained the pieces, and ourselves). In short, they were acquired through trust. The longer version as is already known to a few valuable ‘family’ members, is that it took years to develop the trust necessary for the collecting and the ability to hold on to the collection for study and disbursement. Through sincerity, caring, sharing, and steadfast discipline, we were allowed to gather, as time went by, more and larger items and keep them in our possession. By the exact same disciplines as that of any ‘official’ representatives that knew of our work and true intentions, we have remained ‘centered and true’. We are also no longer collecting any items, in accordance with the UNESCO Treaty laws, and are only procuring the newest of modern replications from China, as must be done to keep up with the ever-excelling methods of their production. It is with this sharing and the caring that both our ‘Antiquities, Plus…’ web site and this ‘Timeless Jade’ site were established, and any words spoken to the contrary are not of concern to either us or the exemplary people we have dealt with, either here or across the Pacific. It is not and never will be our intention to become wealthy from the collection, but only to share the knowledge and the proceeds to those who truly need it, in accordance with our ‘agreements’ and goals. We will forever keep only that portion which we need to survive under common conditions, and we do not consider private jets, mansions, or fancy automobiles to be part of that concept. That being said, we will continue with the photo above which in its own right is a wonderment of technical achievement, and leads to even more questions yet to be answered, as do all good pieces. As can easily be seen in the photograph where the lid meets the vessel, the two jades are not the same color, and yet this is the only way the lid will fit. If turned opposite, the jades match exactly in color transition but the lid will not fit. As with all things, there has to be a reason for this anomaly, as it is not the norm for lidded vessels, or two or more parts of jade which are to fit together, to not match in color. It is a fact that sometimes vessels were made with the different pieces lacquer-glued together, and this can mostly be accounted for by the need for a matching stone to make the addition of a higher level on a complex design, and sometimes in the case of later repairs to crushed or damaged vessels. However, in the case of this vessel, it was most assuredly a ‘planned’ anomaly. The master artist who finished the design and carving would have never, out of negligence or poor planning, reversed the stone to make the lid. For such an important vessel, this would not be the case, and it has been suggested that it was an intentional use of the jade, which we personally find reasonable. The top and the bottom are most certainly made of the same stone, and it has been postulated that it may have been an intentional reversal of the lid for shamanic protection of the deceased, according to some archeological speculations we have entertained.  These grey vessels were most likely made for burial rites and daily or yearly ritual use. Any additional information or insights concerning these types of vessels from responsible persons who work among such vessels in a Museum setting would be most appreciated. In addition, we can find in the photograph above what we believe is the earliest of two different lacquer glue repairs to the vessel since it was first removed from the burial setting many years ago, as will be shown in following close-up photographs. While the old black lacquer repairs are to be found all over both the top and bottom of the vessel, the lacquer was applied mostly to small ’spiderweb’ cracks that surprisingly never broke all the way through. It is only the portion shown in the above photograph where the lacquered  crack meets the upper rim, where a small section actually broke loose and was re-inserted, using the glue.

Degradation And Natural Crack To Part Of The Dragon Designs

Original Degradation & Re-Cut & Re-Polish To Mouth of Main Dragon

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

The above two photographs were taken at only 1X power of the Canon Macro lens and show tremendous detail already of the degraded nephrite both in the in-situ areas and the ares that have received what we would call re-cutting and re-polishing, using the old methods. As clearly as we can determine, the vessel, as mentioned earlier, has undergone two different polishings and repairs, with the oldest of these estimated to have been performed around the Ming Dynasty period some five hundred years ago. In later microscopic photographs, it will become more evident as to the two different periods of re-working the original vessel, but for now it is important to note the amazing ability of the original nephrite carving to retain its integrity (note the intact teeth and tongue) under conditions of such extended burial and the tectonic movements which must have taken place during the long history of such burial. Clearly visible in the upper-most photo are the two different cracks that appear in the curling design, and it is apparent in the larger one, to the viewer’s right, that the stone held (as it shows no lacquer repair to either side), and light going through the tip of the curl is different than the transmission of light in the thicker area just beside the crack. (The bright white ‘curl’ is an optical illusion and is actually in the background; sometimes it appears to ‘pop out’ of the shot. The jade that is cradled in this white curl is the part we are examining).While having been being re-polished on the sides and on the curve, the chip at the bottom of the main crack is in-situ and has not been re-polished in any way. In the second photograph, evidence of the first re-cutting and re-polishing starts to show in the mouth area of the main dragon on the bottom part of the vessel. The tip of the tongue, outer fangs, and tips of the smaller teeth were surely considered too delicate in their first unburied condition to be re-polished, for fear of  breaking them. The old ones who re-worked these vessels were for the most part masters in their own right, and knew from experience what to touch and what to not touch, as in almost every occasion on any jade artifact we have examined, they knew what was under the degradation and exerted extreme caution in their work, due to the sacred nature of the items themselves. This sort of re-conditioning and study of original old artifacts is well-documented during the Ming Dynasty, as many paintings and written descriptions of the literati exist today, from their studying and revering the ancient arts at leisure. Their study and love led to further Tao and Confucian reverence, in the exquisite execution of their copying and experimental dyeing of the jades to appear as realistic as possible. Many such designs were made during the Ming Dynasty, and at times both the originals and the tremendous reproductions of the period were buried along with the deceased.  However, a true Ming Dynasty funeral jade will not come close to the depth of degradation we see in the older, two-thousand-year-old plus archaic jades, due almost exclusively to length of burial. In these above photos, and all those applicable so far in both parts of this article, the areas where the darker brown staining appears on the jade is part of the first re-working of the vessel, as during the final re-working, only clear wax was used over the second re-polishing. This second waxing is now turning to a more darkened color under microscopic viewing, due to the age of the wax itself, and would be estimated by us to be minimally in the hundred-year-old range. Bits of fiber can still be found attached to both of the different waxes that have been used, and in places, there is still burial debris from its final entombment, perhaps during the period of occupation. These are what is left from our initial cleaning of all modern ‘enhancement mud’ applied prior to our acquisition of the item.

Degradation & Lines Re-Cut On Wings of The Main Dragon

Original In-Situ Crack & Degradation To Underside Foot Of Main Vessel

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

Both of the above two photographs were taken at only 1X power of the Canon Macro lens, and start to show the differences of the two separate re-workings of the vessel, and some of the original tooling marks dating from its creation. The top photo shows the highest wing tip of the main Air Dragon (which is facing to the right), from the viewer’s left side looking straight on towards the vessel.The re-cutting of the ‘feathers’ on the wing tip are from the original re-working of the vessel when it was first removed from the burial site. The vessel was completely smoothed first to remove what would have been deep pitting similar to the other Warring States Vessel shown in Part One of this article. After the vessel was rough-polished down to where the deep grey natural coloring of the nephrite was showing, the re-deliniation of the original designs was performed. We have other vessels which still show where the overseer in charge of the restorations left original ink on them, from when he would re-draw the original designs from what remained (as in the case of the feathers here), and when the one who was actually doing the re-cutting was following these ink lines, he would not go all the way to the end of the new inked designs, and would leave a trace of ink from the overseer’s brush. In many of these cases where the traces of ink remain, we find totally in-situ tooling marks from the original work. In the above photo there are no ink lines left but, there are places where the design was removed by the re-polishing, and where the new re-cutting was done, it was not totally completed, and the tips still show their original tooling marks. This will be better seen in the microscopic photos to follow. In the second photograph above, we get a glimpse of the bottom of the right front foot of the Main Dragon at 1X power of the Macro lens. In this photo can be seen over two thousand years of workmanship and degradation, and the start of the close-ups of both re-polishings to the vessel. The two large brown-colored depressions are totally in-situ botryoidal shaped ‘break-outs’ where the jade had been hit sometime during its internment, and while the old Chinese usually sifted the dirt for even the smallest of pieces to lacquer-glue back into place, these two small pieces were apparently not found. The brown inside of the break-outs is the old Ming Dynasty period wax used to darken the jade after it had been re-polished, as almost every ancient jade that has been re-polished (to bring out the original stone color), comes with its own ‘antiquing’ method to make them look old again, while still seeing the original stone. This should be viewed as the restorer’s ‘artistic license’, and is found on objects in most museums in the world. As we also do restorations in our Gallery, we have to do the exact same thing to certain pieces, depending on what looks right to us and the client, but it is a steadfast rule of ours to never do such a perfect job that the restored portion can not be perceived by a professional. (We do this simply because there have been people who have purchased items from us in the past as ‘restored’, then attempted to re-sell them as 100% in-situ). On the upper edge showing in the photo can still be seen some of the rounded original tooling marks made from the drilling of the vessel when first ‘roughing out’ its shape. These can be seen as short and deeper depressions along the edge of the foot of the Dragon, and just to the viewer’s right of these depressions are the rough-sanding marks (since then, a bit degraded and pitted) from approximately the Ming Dynasty period, towards the far right of the photo. In the center of the photograph, and in-between the two break-outs, we can now see the tooling, or sanding marks, from the second re-polishing. These show up as whitish sanding-style markings on top of the original degradation, and on top of the old brown wax which had been applied earlier.

[As this article is beginning to get too long for my trust in the blog style format, we are changing it to a three-part article. When reaching over 4,000 words we feel it is better to hold it here, as  it gets too long for a sitting for some of our readers. Also, when saving the article, funny things start to happen on the blog itself as the article gets too long. On our new Antiquities, Plus... web site, scheduled to for initial launch this coming January 6, 2010, the length of an article or review will not be an issue, as it will be a truly state-of-the-art web site, allowing us total freedom to design as we please. So, we thank our readers and our consignors for their continued patience as many more of these types of articles will be written for both the smaller and unique pieces we have, and those we represent, along with some articles and reviews of some larger items that will certainly, and without any exaggeration, add to the base knowledge of ancient burial jades to a degree we believe has never been achieved in any publication.]

David Fredericks  –  Yulongwei

Antiquities, Plus…

Part One of a Two Part Series

Late Eastern Zhao Period Royal Funeral Vessel

Transitional Re-Polished Grey Nephrite

Lidded Vessel

Originally with Total ‘Calcification’

Late Warring States Period Lidded Dragon Funeral Vessel

The tremendous artwork of all the Archaic Periods has always provoked a profound feeling in us and has led to the vast majority of the Fredericks/McIntire Collection being focused on these original works in the Jade Arts. From the earliest times of the Neolithic Period when objects of jade and stone were so pervasively used in religious context, up to the beginning of the famous Han Dynasty, there has never been in our opinion such an uninterrupted explosion of true Chinese genius in the art and expression of “The Stone of Heaven”. From the time of the Neolithic Period for approximately 8,000 years there was a transcendence of design the likes of which will most likely never be reached again, and while some beautiful and exotic pieces were created during such periods as the Song, Ming and Qing Dynasties, the pieces from these later periods were mostly influenced by what had come before, when the succession of creativity was mostly unabated. So, with the odd exception (and appreciation for the technical aspects – like the famous Ming Dynasty Fish Dragons presented to scholars), our collection much mirrors that of the great Grenville Winthrope III in what we perceive to be the epitome of creative expression, in the most difficult stone in the world to work and under such unimaginable conditions, to create such masterpieces of human religious passion and respect. However, with that said, some of the newest works by the most modern Gold Medal winning Master Sculptors at the recent Tiangong Jiang Contest in Beijing proves the Chinese genius is still alive and thriving once more (in the pieces we were blessed enough to view through the courtesy of Lin Wang PhD.), as the creativity shown during this contest in all the fields of carving expertise we witnessed were astounding to say the least.

But, creativity does not necessary translate to ‘Power’ (’power’ being understood in the East far better than in the West), and while new web sites are popping up all the time trying to ‘play’ and, in our opinion, exploit the power of modern pieces and replication carvings for personal and monetary gain, they show very little true understanding of the stone and rather play on words like ‘chakra’ and ‘metaphysical properties’. It is to this end that we introduce this masterpiece of the ancient art of Sacred Carving for the real Shamanic Kings, who were the only ones allowed to own this type of the “Stone of Heaven” and be able to use it in the correct fashion for which it was created by the Old Masters, and imbued through proper ceremony with the true force. The Later Imperial Families tried to emulate these items, and the Mandarin classes chose them mostly for the purpose of displaying their political and social status.

Late Warring States Funeral Vessel - Left Profile

Close Up The Lid Dragon Decoration - Warring States (475 - 221 BCE) Jade Vessel

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

While much has always been made of the famous Translucent White Nephrite Jade used during this period and the ‘mutton fat’ White Jade (yingyu) favored during portions of the Western Han Dynasty (206 BCE – 8 CE), very little is ever spoken about the exquisite grey vessels of the same periods, and their usage. Yet some of most fantastic designs ever conceived were created during these periods, using this amazingly tight- fibered, and yet flowing nephritic grey stone. The fact that they were most sacred vessels should not ever have escaped the attention of the Western world, and yet it seems that’s exactly what happened, from all of the literature we have read over the past 12 years. And while the White Nephrite Jade was chosen for the Gold medals at this last Olympics in Beijing, the Grey Nephrite Jade was used for the Silver medals. It seems China still knows the importance of the Grey Jade, but the rest of the world remains in the dark as to its true importance, and it takes vessels and sacred items made of this stone to convey the fact that it was not just another jade, but a ’special jade’ with special significance. At 14-1/8″ Height X 9″ Width X 3/3/4″ Depth and weighing 8 LBs., 1.5 oz., this is not a ‘little’ vessel and would equal any shown in the Beijing Museum from this Period, with the exception of perhaps those in the Sacred Vaults, which are not shown to the general public. The overall beauty of the vessel, and evolutionary achievement stylistically and technically should ensure this vessel a place in the annals of famous Chinese works of jade art, and while it does have some definite design attributes associated with the famous Han Dynasty vessels, there are reasons we place this vessel in the very late Eastern Zhao Period and not the Han Dynasty. These types of pieces (created by a true Master) are always the most difficult for us to date with certainty, because of their transcendental nature of ‘living’ on the cusp of two eras. Designs do not change on a single day as Reigns and Periods may, and much overlapping is found if one knows both the stylistic approach to dating, and the technical aspects involved. But most important of all is the oh-so-subtle aspect of ‘feel’, which is extremely well- known and used in China by the True, Great, Old Masters, passed down for centuries if not millennia, and so little-understood in the Western World. In the Chinese way, the saying is, “You must have touched a thousand real pieces to be called a master”, and this particular ‘Way’ takes a very long time to master, especially for those not associated with a major Museum specializing in this ‘Way’ of jade authentication of ‘touching’ a thousand real pieces. It has taken me over seven years of ‘just this way’ after first learning of the technique from a great man from the west coast of California who had emmigrated here years before from Hong Kong. While he is no longer with us on this plane, some may remember him as the man who always wore black ‘cowboy’ clothes and had the most sensitive little fingers with the long nails. My teaching in this area started with him visiting me almost every two weeks and never speaking more than two or three words; just watching as he touched the jade pieces we owned, over and over again with his little finger, and helping me learn that which he was trying to impart. From there it has taken me seven years to develop this small but important skill.  I passed my 1,000th piece some time ago, and even now know I have much farther to go. This is why the scientific approach is so important to us, as we truly wish to know all aspects of dating and analysis at our disposal. As a special note: It took me over three months to get this man to use a loupe on a piece he could not figure out, but kept saying old – not old. It was a re-cut and re-polished old piece made into a ‘gear bi’ which only had two small barely discernible original string saw cuts . On seeing through his first loupe, he became so excited and I will never forget his face.

Front Dragon On Main Portion Of The Vessel

Sinuous Water Dragon On One Side Of The Grey Jade Vessel

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

The amazing detail created during a period of no ‘high speed’ drills and industrial diamond tools is hard to fathom for those of us who have had at least a little experience in working nephrite jade. Most of us have heard about how it took a lifetime from start to finish to create one of these incredible works of art. When one looks back at the carvings in basalt and soft alabasters and marbles of other cultures from the same period, it is even more incredible to perceive how these vessels were accomplished in even that short a time. With the Chinese core and solid drill technology (now archeologically proven to have existed far back into the Neolithic Period) being so advanced by this period, one still has to take into account the extreme hardness of the darker ‘Imperial’ Grey Jade, which is showing to be incredibly hard for nephrite and extremely tightly fibered, making it one of the toughest stones on earth to carve. I have yet to see a study on what mineral, or minerals, make the pure white jade become grey in its makeup, and it always has an extremely curious anomaly in every stone this author has examined, whether carved and degraded, or in its ‘rough’, un-cut form. This anomaly is that we have never seen this stone with a colored rind of any kind except in surface cracks of pebbles straight from the Khotan Region. Sometimes there is a slight reddish tinge inside the cracks which we find intruding from an outside cause, but never from oxidation of iron in the stone itself unless it is in extremely minute amounts. What we do find in every case is either water-worn smooth grey pebbles with occasional ’snowflake’ areas, or in the case of burial items, the deeply degraded white spotted areas which we can see all over this vessel, even after it has been re-cut and re-polished at least two separate times. At one time the entire vessel was completely covered with this white degradation, and where it was first re-polished long ago, and by old ‘hand-tooling’ techniques, they brought out the beautiful grey nephrite coloring, while the areas with the degradation go through the entire vessel. This type of degradation is only caused by extreme age in a burial situation, and can not be caused by the modern acid etching techniques used on replications. This is the main reason (along with the thousands of original tooling marks still on the vessel) we have chosen to leave this vessel in its ‘as collected’ state. With the exception of just washing off the obligatory reddish mud (which coats most pieces that came out of China), this vessel was chosen because of the literally thousands of areas where positive identification could be made (some of which will be shown in the accompanying Macro and Microscopic pictures), and with the thought that taking off any more than the lightly mudded edges would mar our ability to show a prospective client the different time periods in which this vessel had been buried, cleaned and re-polished, re-buried, cleaned and re-polished again. We decided it best to perform a final cleaning in front of a buyer if they would so wish.

Close Up Of The Dragon's Head On The Lid Of The Vessel

Close Up Of The Dragon's Tail On The Lid

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

The above two photos once again show the tremendous creativity of an age gone by when the art of carving jade was reaching its zenith, and the ones for whom the pieces were made were to become almost extinct as time went on – The great Shamanic Kings, prior to the Dynastic Rulers which were to come. It is because of pieces like these, and others that exceed the two thousand year-old mark, that the top people from China who have come to view our collection will literally not touch, with even their fingertips (but they will get their fingers to within an inch), the jades in our collection that are over two thousand years old. When asked why, they simply say they are too sacred. (But they will handle and fondle all the younger pieces following this period).  They have told me they know that I have permission to touch them, but they do not, in the most reverent manner. Many times I have felt this way, as the pieces truly do have a ‘feeling’ that no other jade artifact has to me, and to others who know, as well. It is hard to explain this in the modern world of today, but the Chinese still understand such things, as they have for thousands of years. Now, we’ll go back to the more common ways to authenticate a real artifact, and will leave the ‘feeling’ for other articles to come. In the next set of pictures, we shall show one of the reasons why each authentic artifact has its own ‘history’, and the fact that those who clean them up take a bit of artistic license themselves, which sometime makes our job as authenticators easier, and sometimes makes it miserable. Look through The Complete Volumes Of Jades Unearthed In China; it will give one a bit of appreciation of this concept, as will taking a tour through Harvard University’s collection of archaic jades.

Another Late Warring States Jade Vessel Showing 100% In-Situ Places

Close Up Of Above Vessel Showing In-Situ Area

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

Close Up Of Above Vessel Showing Area from In-Situ To Re-Polished

In the first of the above photos we can see a wonderfully formed, lidded vessel from a somewhat earlier period then the main subject vessel of this article. This is another of the Fredericks/McIntire collection, and is actually part of set of mated vessels. We are showing this set of pictures and the ones below this paragraph to illustrate just how degraded a true funeral burial vessel from this Period becomes, and how the workers have cleaned these vessels for hundreds of years, each in his own way, or the way set forth by the Master who sets the work in place. The ‘reddish’ areas shown in all three picture are the in-situ portions of the vessel. They remained distinctive, despite  the way this vessel was re-cut and re-polished. As can easily be noticed, the iron oxides on this vessel are more pronounced than they are on the subject vessel as a result of the stone chosen having a different chemical makeup. This stone had places which definitely had more iron naturally in the stone, but only in certain areas, such as the portions showed in pictures one, two and three. However, only in pictures one and three do we see the iron oxidation truly penetrating the entire depth of the vessel. One view of it is the area of the left-facing handle on the lid, and better seen in the third picture; the area is located in the select portion from the original cut on the rim of the lid (as will be seen below), rising up to the top portion of the eyebrow on the central Taotie face. The rest of the light grey jade vessel retains its coloring well, and still shows the degradation in the white areas going all the way through the stone. When modern replications are treated with strong acids and alkalis to degrade the jade (or usually, simulents), the surface of the stones will be much more uniform in their degradation, as the acids and alkalis work quickly to degrade the entire surface, and rarely penetrate to any noticeable depth, except what appears to be depth in areas of suspension holes, and any natural cracks in the simulents usually used. True degradation takes time, and time only, as the natural decomposition of jades starts where there are weaker areas in the nephrite. Over time, these miniscule weaker areas are subjected to water intrusion (as jade, being as tough as it is, remains porous in nature and allows moisture to penetrate). With the temperature and moisture changes of the seasons comes the expansion and contraction that starts the damage in the weaker areas, resulting in the ‘pitting’, as can easily be seen in the photographs above. After enough time in the ground under these conditions, we find that the jade vessels and pendants are all ‘eaten’ to a certain degree, depending on the soil conditions, moisture levels, and whether the item was a surface find or burial item. Many other factors (and combinations of factors) play a role and have an effect on original artifacts, and it is our job to logically determine what the nature of burial conditions was for each object , as well as is humanly possible, not having been with the item in question during its entire life span. Add to this the fact the many artifacts were discovered hundreds of years ago (if not thousands) and have been subsequently buried because of war,  famine, or a myriad of other causes; thus, it can be quite a challenge to figure a piece out logically, and be reasonably certain of the history of an artifact. Having in-situ pieces has helped immensely with our knowledge base, and studying items that have been buried three or four different times also adds to this knowledge base. In some cases, we cannot clean an item in our collection anymore than we have already, or it wouldn’t be possible to show under microscopic conditions the four separate burials it has undergone.  We always have such items on display for viewing and further research. Of particular note in the last two photos above, the reader can see the exact transition from newly polished areas to in-situ condition portions, with the two different Taotei eyes being a wonderful place of focus in pictures two and three; the entire area going from right to left for the viewer. One other marvelous aspect of this particular vessel can be observed at the lower 1/4 portion of the vessel itself, in an area that shows a distinct line running across the entire width of the vessel. This is an extremely old lacquer repair (which is incredibly durable and long-lasting; there was absolutely no degradation to the lacquer glue, or the bond, after a three week soaking in acetone) that was either performed before the vessel was first funereally buried, or extremely soon  after it was exhumed, then re-buried, due to the fact the the degradation to the re-polished jade is exactly the same on both sides of the line under microscopic conditions, and in some parts, transcends the entire wall of the vessel.

Another View of Warring States Vessel & Degradation Above

Bottom Of Lid Of Above Vessel Showing Crack Running To Taotei Eyebrow

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

The two photos above will conclude Part One of this Two Part Series, with Part Two to be published in a few days.

In the first picture above, we can tell that the ‘cleaner’ of this particular vessel chose to leave some parts completely untouched, which is wonderful for authenticators from either the East Or the West. As explained before, there are certain aspects of funereal items which cannot be faked (as of yet), and doubtfully ever will be. Some conditions we find on items, whether  jade or pottery or bronze, just cannot be reproduced and can only come from time (like a tree root eating its way clear through the plinth of a Tang Dynasty horse). The pitting we see here is one of those instances that cannot be replicated, because the stone was so pure to begin with;  it did not have massive impurities for the acids to work on in such a deep manner as to completely penetrate the walls of the vessels. One sees this effect only in 100% authentic vessels of this approximate period. For example, Ming Dynasty Pieces (depending on burial conditions) will be degraded, but not to the extent or depth that is found in jade items buried for thousands of years longer.   While occasionally having some deeper pitting, it will be to much lesser extent than we find on the older pieces, and nowhere close to the all-inclusive look and depth of the Han Dynasty and earlier period items. This ‘rule’ even applies to the high-desert pieces found from both of the aforementioned periods. Genuine oxidation takes time, genuine wear takes time, and genuine penetration of jade by such substances as true loess soil iron takes time. With a little cleaning and the right equipment with which to inspect the item, it then becomes a matter of knowing the faking techniques, and finding out how much re-polishing has taken place (sometimes the cleaners get a bit carried away). In the second part of this article, we will see the through-transmission degradation and Macro and Microscopic photos of the subject vessel , along with the close-ups of the re-tooling and both re-polishings.

David Fredericks  – Yulongwei

Antiquities, Plus…

Silver Inlayed Wood & Jadeite Ruyi

From the Collection of Ms. Kim Stewart

Silver Inlayed Wood & Three Panel Jadeite Ruyi

Original Early Qing Dynasty Ruyi 55CM Long

This wonderful Ruyi first came to us from the collection of Ms. Kim Stewart for authentication and dating purposes. Upon first sight it was never in question whether the Ruyi was old, original and important. The main drive from that point forward has been to identify and record all the original portions of the Ruyi, locate the old and original Chinese repairs, place it in the correct time frame in Chinese History, and understand its importance to the Art World and to Chinese Culture in particular. This Ruyi has been in the Stewart family for two generations now, and was originally acquired around 1952 in California by Ms. Stewart’s Father, Duncan E. Stewart, a well-known Los Angeles surgeon at St. Francis Hospital.

A very fine site in which to view Imperial Ruyi Scepters can be found  here: www.dpm.org.cn/English/e/e27/index.htm  - and while this article pertains to the placing in history and the construction methods used for a particular Ruyi, this site of The Palace Museum in Taipei will enhance anyone’s general knowledge on the subject, and allow viewing of some of the Ruyi’s which will be mentioned here.

The famous “Three Panel” Ruyi’s were first developed toward the beginning of the Qing Dynasty and were considered during the late 17Th Century and through the 18Th Century to be all the rage in the Imperial court in Peking. They were the gifts to the Emperors of the period, and the gifts of Emperors to favored relatives and Civil Officials of highest rank. The extremely large size of this Ruyi is one of the tell-tale signs of its age and its importance, as only two are mentioned in the vast collection of the Palace museum in Taipei that are larger in size. Also the fact that there is only one Ruyi in this impressive collection that is made in this way with huge, solid, jadeite panels. While there is a beautiful full Ruyi over 40cm long made from a single piece of jadeite, showing Imperial Greens (of which, if ‘cabs’ were made from the Imperial green, they would be worth in the millions of dollars alone), the other pieces shown in their collection are either of nephrite or made with pieces of jadeite similar to the construction of ‘jade trees’. Another amazing facet of this particular Ruyi is its current in-situ condition with no museum preservation and the fact that it has stayed almost entirely intact for approximately 300 years while being originally made of ten pieces of wood to create the deep, sensuous curves and overall flowing design we see here today.

Ten Piece Wooden Construction - Fine Silver Inlayed Ruyi

Above Photo’s Taken with Canon EOS XSi

Large In-Situ Top Jadeite Panel In Gold Gilt Bronze

Photo Taken with Canon EOS XSi Using EF 24-70mm f/2,8L USM Lens

In this photograph of the large medallion at the head of the Ruyi, we can see how intricately the silver inlay was performed. The fact that it was hand-inlayed can easily be detected by the irregularities which occur in an original piece of artwork, as opposed to those which come from machining. Also, it is only on this top panel and along the sides of the ruyi, in the naturally exposed areas which were most handled, where the true color of the original wood can be best discerned. It appears to this writer that the wood belongs to the huanghuali (yellow or golden Rosewood and sometimes referred to as yellow-sandlewood) variety, which along with the size and intricacy of the overall workmanship, the silver inlay, gold-gilt bronze and massive jadeite plaques, would be one of the two woods of choice (along with Zitan) for an Imperial Ruyi Scepter. The Jadeite plaque which fills the center of the top portion of this Ruyi is approximately  9-1/2cm Wide X 8-1/2cm Hight X 4cm Depth within the gold-gilt bronze ring, and is in 100% in-situ condition. Finding any jade or jadeite piece from this period which has undergone no re-cutting or re-polishing is extremely rare, as almost all pieces have been worn, chipped (as this Ruyi has several small chips), handled to the point of wearing off the designs, buried to hide during wars, and other reasons, and just generally degraded from body salts, acids, polishing and the ravages of time. As an authenticator and curator, one must make decisions regarding cleaning the item in hand, the removal of any foreign substances (such as waxes or the almost obligatory dirt and polishes) used to “re-antique” an item which has undergone any restoration, or just leaving it in the state in which it was found. With most jade and jadeite items, we have to clean the items to make sure there has been no clever re-working and re-polishing and antiquing of the piece. However, with this Ruyi, the decision was easy as it was in such an in-situ condition, without even the normal cleaning and polishing which one would associate with an item of this importance. It came to us so original simply because no one had ever had the desire to do anything but leave the item alone ever since it found its home in the USA. We have only ’shot’ the dust that would come off easily with canned air you would use to clean your computer (some still remains, as you can see in the photos where airborne residues common to the home have adhered). The minor repairs to the wood appear to have been made along time ago in China, with the exception of an aliphatic cementing (Elmer’s glue) of the bottom jadeite plaque, which has since ‘let go’ and is loose for examination (which will be seen in the Macro and Microscopic photographs). One last telling detail in the photograph above is the silver inlay starting to show up as being ‘lifted’ from the surface of the wood. This will be explained more as we get deeper into the article.

Reverse Side - Top Section of Ruyi Showing Typical Huanghuali Color

Reverse, Top Showing Old Chinese Pinned Repair to Curved Section

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

In first picture above we can see the definitive ‘grain’ marks and expected coloring of the famous Huanghuali wood, which is sometimes referred to in China as Yellow, or Golden Rosewood. The National Museum of Taipei refers to this wood as just Rosewood in its largest Ruyi in their collection at 77cm, but still makes mention of its complete Chinese name in the individual description of this magnificent piece. We have also seen this wood described as yellow sandalwood, but by any description, it is well-documented to be one of the woods most chosen for Royal use in China throughout modern history. The top medallion which holds the Jadeite is made of one single piece of wood, and as can be seen in both pictures above, the curving handle starts at the base with what appears to be another type of wood, but we do not believe that it is. We believe it is Huanghuali also, but of a different portion of the tree (like a limb of the tree) which has a darker color and was more conducive to the bending required to make the Ruyi. As this Ruyi was made from ten different pieces of huanghuali, so masterfully crafted, it is another marvelous example of early Qing Dynasty workmanship, in multiple media, that has withstood the ravages of time. Partly due to the fact that it never had to be buried to protect it from theft, it is only lacking the final repairs to make it as pristine as the ones pictured in the Palace Museum. Literally, with one day of work and a yellow tassel on the end, you could display this marvelous Ruyi next to any in the world and it will most certainly hold its own. However, being in such an in-situ condition, one can truly study its ‘history’ from conception to this very day much better, and if we end up doing any conservation on it at present, it will be only to give it a slight coating of special oil to further keep the wood ‘alive’. Even the original break in the curve of the handle tells its own story, and original repair in China only adds to the item’s character and authenticity. Of course an end buyer could do as they please and have it totally restored very easily, as approximately 97% of the silver inlay is intact and a ‘master’ could even match the ‘rising silver inlay’.

Center Plaque of Ruyi Showing Famed Peony Motif as Other Plaques

Naturally Separated And Repaired End Medallion of Ruyi Without the Jadeite and Gilt Bronze Insert

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

These two photos show the 100% in-situ middle medallion with peony motif, and the long-ago naturally separated, original joint, repaired and re-separated end medallion without its Jadeite plaque. In the bottom photo we can easily see the original red lacquer glue that held the bottom jadeite plaque in place, and the newer aliphatic cement that was used to hold it back in place during the last 50 years or so. The bottom ‘flange’ that has separated is part of the original ten pieces that made up the wooden portion of this Ruyi, and on the backside it shows where it had at one time been wet in the upper corner of the joint, which most likely caused the separation to occur. While the lacquer glues are impervious to water and solvents like acetone, the wood itself is not, and when swollen brings out the only known flaw with lacquer construction or repair – that of sideways pressure. Lacquer does have a tendency to get brittle over the years and while it can be soaked in tomb condition for millennia or immersed in acetone for months and still retain its integrity, a sideways shock either from force or from expansion can cause it to loose its bond. Being repaired at a much later date with the aliphatic cement provided only the most temporary of fixes. However, it is an easy repair for an experienced conservator. We have left it in its current condition so as to be able to easily put all the pieces including the Jadeite plaque under the microscope, to be able to more readily show all the original parts of construction, degradation and the Jadeite plaque tooling marks. When resting on a shelf  six inches behind glass, one can not easily tell any damage has occurred to the Ruyi and it still keeps the piece in-situ and available to show in seconds under the microscope.

Bottom Jadeite Plaque Removed From Ruyi

Backside of Bottom Jadeite Plaque with Gilt Bronze Inset Ring

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

In the top photo above we can see clearly the Peony and Prunus design which was chosen for all three of the plaques on this exquisite Ruyi. As perhaps the most significant flower in China’s illustrious history, the herbaceous peony (Shao-yao)  has been cultured since at least Neolithic times, and the tree form of the peony (Mu-tan) at least back to Tang Dynasty or earlier. The Peony has long been regarded as a symbol of feminine beauty, the sign for Spring and an emblem of love. These Royal Ruyi were known to have been presented at weddings and as gifts to the highest Ladies of the Court, and during the Qing Dynasty it has been noted that some marriage beds were decorated on all four corners with these regal scepters, or wishing wands. Perhaps this particular Ruyi was intended for the female side of the bed-chamber, and it’s not very much of a stretch to assume it may have been presented for a royal wedding with its meanings of feminine beauty, spring (February has always been the most auspicious time for weddings) and an emblem of love. As we start to explain our dating criteria for the Stewart Ruyi, we go first to the above picture of the Jadeite plaque, noticing the lack of deep piercing we start to find around the time of the middle to late 18Th century. This is much more in keeping in what is known of Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty jade workmanship. While not all pieces always fall into exacting specifications, and with the fact that ‘transition’ periods do exist, we look at what is known in a general sense and continue to eliminate anomalies along the way until we get as close as we can, not having been there when the piece was made. In the Palace Museum of Taipei’s web site we can find similarly shaped Ruyi’s, stated as being popular in the mid 18Th Century. The design of this Ruyi falls in nicely with that design, but as we look at other Ruyi’s from the Emperor Qianlong’s reign starting to be more straightened in the handle, we wonder if this is truly the case. As one looks through the three-panel ruyi section of the site, one can start to get a better feel for what is earlier in design, and which ones start to fall into the later design of more straightened handle, even if they do possess the three panels. These newer-looking ruyi’s have a more modern look and feel to them, and are deeply pierced, and when taken into account with every Ruyi represented on the site, we see an emerging pattern in all media in which these famous pieces were made. The ones with the larger three panels have an older ‘feel’ to them in general, and the sleeker looking Ruyi’s tend to have a bit younger dating when mentioned. There are a couple of exceptions but in general this is how we view it. So, we add we we know about this particular Ruyi, and we start to see an earlier patten emerge. We know the earlier wooden ruyi’s are said to be all the rage in the Court of the Emperor Yongzheng (1723-1735), and then we see more sleek ones being revered from the time of the Emperor Qianlong. The delicacy of workmanship from the Imperial workshops is well known to have progressed in almost all aspects during Qianlong’s Reign, and while there is undoubtedly some amazing artistry in all media known to have been produced during the Yongzheng’s Reign, in some particular respects it was not that it did not ‘equal’ the art in his son’s reign, but was more a case of being different from that which followed. Having mentioned the less deeply-pierced design common to the Ming and Early Qing Dynasty carving in jade, it was also very much the case with rhino horn, ivory and lacquer (to mention but a few). When one looks at the bottom of the Jadeite plaque above, we can see two more aspects of construction indicating that it is older than late 18Th Century. First is the continuation from Ming Dynasty and earlier techniques of a heavier bronze ring around the jadeite plaque (averaging 2mm thick) which would be reminiscent of earlier bronze techniques, with thinner pieces being more common from the mid 18Th Century on; and second is the way the master undercut the backside of the Jadeite plaque in strips and then ‘broke out’ the remaining sections, much as has been done with the core drill from Neolithic times. Leaving the bottom portion so unfinished is more a trait of late 17Th to early 18th Century workmanship and less so as that of mid to late 18th Century, from the hundreds of pieces from this period alone that we have examined under microscopic conditions. This will be better viewed in the coming macro and microscopic pictures, and it is because of all the features, wear and tooling we see on this Ruyi that we consider it highly unlikely to be much later than Yongzheng’s Reign and very possibly earlier in its construction. From the overall look and ‘feel’ of this Ruyi, we would place its actual construction at very late 17Th Century to right at the end of the Yongzheng Emperor’s reign. Almost every design in China and around the world has consistently produced earlier date estimations as more excavations and research are performed, as we now have pottery items proven from approximately 20,000 years ago – bronze items dating from around the Holocene Period (10,oooBCE) and most recently, iron artifacts dating to approximately 8,000 BCE. Many of these types of new discoveries will be documented on our coming new web site TimelessArtifact.com (under construction).

Macro Photo Of Old Chinese Repair; Some Inlay Missing

Center Medallion Showing Inlay, Gilt Bronze Ring & Jadeite

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

In the first photograph above we see an area, under just 1x of the Macro lens, that had been separating and was ‘tack’-glued back into place in China, using an old style of glue (perhaps a ‘pidden’ glue made of egg whites, as these old protein glues are virtually impervious to the elements and extremely difficult to remove) and a mixture of wood ’shavings’ to match the color. Notice that some of the silver inlay is missing around the separation which occurs in a couple of small areas on the Ruyi, where repair or very minor damage from old ‘blunt trauma’ took place. This is very much to be expected in an authentic, old revered and used Ruyi. Where the colors of the different pieces look to be either cleaned or another piece of wood inserted, it is just the two different colors of two of the ten pieces of wood used to make up the scepter. The entire center spine up to the large top medallion is one piece – the base for the top medallion was made of another piece; there are ‘flanges’ cut to perfection on both sides of the lower medallions making up pieces 3,4,5,and 6. There are four more flanges on each side of the long spine between the medallions, helping to make the scallop on the back, using pieces 7,8,9 and 10. All pieces were masterfully created to blend into one flowing design that was later inlayed with fine silver (.925 or higher).  Two of these outer flanges on both the center and bottom medallion had loosened with time and temperature and moisture change. Besides the extremely minor repaired areas, no real detectable ‘damage’ has occurred to this brilliant Ruyi over such a long period of time. This Ruyi is in such a beautiful and ‘true’ state it could proudly sit in any collection in the world or next to any museum piece and still bring awe from the viewer. The only real break occurred, most likely, while the Ruyi was still in China and was to the aforementioned area right next to the top medallion, and appears to be a very old ‘pinned’ Chinese repair, which in our eyes only adds character and authenticity. The lower photograph above shows, under the same 1x power of the macro lens, a close-up section where the jadeite, gold-gilt bronze ring and old huanghuali wood meet. It is here where we can also start to find other evidence of age that only time produces (as opposed to intentional aging of an item). While many replications of silver inlay, jade and gold-gilt bronze abound in the market for sale today, it is in the macro and microscopic photography where we begin to be able to tell with certainty that the effects we see with our naked eye, and even using a ten to twenty power loupe, have not been faked. In this picture we will start with the silver inlay alone and continue with deeper and deeper pictures of it and the bronze and gilt bronze. In old pieces of authentic silver inlay we see here, as in the fourth picture in this article, the inlay and how is rises from the wood over time, not laying flat as it was when first it was built and sanded and polished. The cause of this up-lifting when it is naturally occurring is the swelling and shrinking of the wood over long periods of times. This occurs from both weather and humidity conditions that are constantly changing daily, and can go to extremes if a piece travels from a naturally drier climate to a wetter climate. The wood will naturally swell with more moisture being absorbed by it, causing the soft, fine silver to ’squeeze’ and become ‘flatter’ and wider. Hot and cold – freezing and thawing – also work on the wood and silver, as they do on all natural substances in artifacts, including the jadeite and the bronze in this piece.

Bottom Of Ruyi Showing Attachment Hole For Silk Tassel

Silver Inlayed Peony in Huanghuali Wood & Jadeite Ruyi

Two Above Photos Taken with Canon EOS XSI Using MPE 65mm f/2.8 1-5 X at 1X & 2X

In the first photograph above we find the suspension hole at the very bottom of the Ruyi where the golden silk tassel was most likely originally attached. On first glance, we can see the extreme wear on by a much-used and revered item in the naturally worn areas which produce an unmistakable shine along the bottom ‘lip’ and around the hole itself. The missing silver inlayed pieces around this area also show an item that was not just set upon a shelf and forgotten, as it was a used item, incurring the natural wear and damage as would normally be expected. Even portions of the original cinnabar-colored lacquer can be seen where the gold-gilt bronze ring fits into the wood. All the dirt and dust inside the suspension hole survived the high power air blast, and is indicative of dust that has accumulated on the entire Ruyi over many years, showing no attempt at creating an artificial patina. In the second picture above is a perfect example of the complex silver-inlayed peony which is repeated several times over the surface of the Ruyi. The main themes of the inlay are the peonies, prunus and lingbi scholar stones. Again, the natural wear, the lack of the nearly-obligatory ’shoe polish’ and the overall condition of this Ruyi point it to a very early age, with our estimation being at least in the Emperor Yongzheng Period, and perhaps as old as the later part of the Emperor Kangxi reign.

Jadeite Prunus Showing In-Situ Condition

Reverse of Bottom Jadeite Plaque Showing Tooling Marks

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

At the 2X Macro setting on our lens, the leaf, stem and platform start to reveal the type of polish, tool marks and lack of re-cutting and re-polishing to the Jadeite plaques on the Ruyi. Due to depth of field with this lens and uneven surface, we get the ‘fuzziness’ as we go deeper into the photo. The clearest portions on all the macro shots will be the area focused on, and in this case it is the tooling marks and the edge of the leaf. On this edge we can see the tiny pitting which has occurred as a result of touching, and the subsequent acids, salts and oils left on the stone from years of handling the Ruyi. Tiny chips start to show up here, from minor ‘knocks’ the jadeite has taken over the many years since it was first created. This happens more frequently with jadeite structure due to its more ‘granular’ nature (as opposed to nephrite), and we get these bits of grain falling out when slightly bumped or nicked. This even occurs when the jadeite is being worked with the heavier grits, as any carver of jadeite can tell you. This ‘pitting’ best shows up in this photo in the center of the leaf and to the viewer’s right, along the leaf’s edge as a ‘roughened’ area with minute dirt specks that have penetrated the holes left in the surface. The in-situ condition we speak of is best seen in the grooves left from the original working and polishing of the stone. If the leaf had been re-cut so as to re-define a worn off area, or even to repair a chipped surface, it would show up as a much more ‘whitish’ cut mark without the smooth and rounded edges we see in this photo. In the second photograph we can see the original grooving cuts made to the back of the plaque, as the deeper ‘ruts’ in the photo. These would have been first cut in rows into the back of the jadeite as a series of cuts, and the material in between them would have then been ’snapped off using a metal pry bar of some type. Then the cut area would have been just lightly sanded during this period of manufacture. Later in the Qianlong Period, the imperial workshops, and even the independent masters, would have followed the edicts of the period and smoothed the back area and polished it to a much finer level. In this photograph we can easily see that very little polishing of the cuts took place, and even these have been worn fairly smooth naturally, as they were most assuredly completed before the finished design on the outside. The small pieces of malachite showing up in the photo are the result of copper fragments remaining in the gold-gilt and bronze ring that have come loose and started to degrade back to their natural state.

Huanghuali Wood and Silver Inlay Under 35X Microscopic Power

Silver Inlay on The Ruyi under 35X Microscopic Power

Above Two Photos Taken with Canon EOS under 35X Microscopic Power

The two photographs above show the current condition of the hundreds-of-years-old Huanghuali wood and fine silver inlay in this fabulous Ruyi. We can see the differing thicknesses of the hand-made silver wire, and the individual grooves made by the original Masters who created this beautiful piece of history. Some of the original polish or waxes can still be identified in the crevices and on the surface of the wood itself. While it is most assuredly polishes of differing ages, we can identify none of it as being new, and when we look into the parts inside the deepest portions of the natural graining, we can see the darkened colors it has taken on with age. In the upper photograph where the silver inlay has ‘pulled’ away from the wood, we can see the natural staining to the edges of the wood from its contact with the silver over so many years. The silver inlay still retains its silvery color, most likely from being in the extremely  dry environment of the desert for such a long period of time. If this piece had remained closer to the ocean, where it was first acquired, a more darkened patina would be expected from the oxidation of the silver around a wetter and saltier environment.

A Portion of The Gold-Gilt Bronze Ring With Lacquer Glue & Degradation

Gold-Gilt Bronze Ring and Lacquer Glue at 35X Magnification

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

In the two above photographs we can see at 35X power the bronze ring on the bottom plaque of the Ruyi, which is loose and unattached. On both pictures you can see the dark red lacquer glue that was originally used to secure the bronze ring and Jadeite plaque to the groove cut into the bottom medallion (as seen in photo #8). In the top photograph, we can see in the middle a piece of malachite-encrusted aliphatic cement which has since fallen off the ring. This water-based glue was used to re-attach the ring when it loosened long ago and came of of the Ruyi. The malachite encrustation on the glue was caused from the moisture in the glue reacting with the copper component of the bronze. This can be seen to a lesser degree on the lower photograph, to the right where the lacquer glue is the thinnest, and a green tint can be detected between the lacquer and the gold-gilding on the ring. The inside of the ring also has this same type of patina, along with slight crystalline malachite growth from moisture seeping in (most likely during cleaning) under the ring. The gold-gilding to the right of the picture is in-situ, and is in comparatively fine condition after all these years, considering the handling and cleaning it has endured. It is interesting to note the slight abrasion marks that never got covered by the gold when it was first gilded, which would have been caused by the filing of the ring to smooth it out once the ring had been welded closed and prior to its insertion onto the jadeite plaque.

Original Tool Markings on The Back Of The Jadeite Plaque

Original Tooling Marks On The Jadeite Plaque At 35X

Two Above Photos Taken with Canon EOS XSi Under 35 Power Magnification

The above two photographs were taken of the outside of the bottom Jadeite plaque, as it was very easy to maneuver under the microscope and set in the ’sand box’ to still the photograph. What we see in these two photos is exactly what is to be found on the surface of all three Jadeite plaques, the only exception being that the design changes. Over every surface on the plaques we find that there is no wax left to remove, as it has all been absorbed or worn away over the ages. What dust we see adhering to the jadeite is mostly that which has adhered to the stone naturally from airborne oils, such as household cooking oils. All of the pitting is totally natural to jadeite that has withstood the ravages of time in an above-ground situation. We see no evidence of prior burial of any length of time, and the degradation is only that which one would expect from handling, cleaning, and normal ‘accidents’ to the stone. The remaining tooling and sanding marks in both of the pictures is extremely telling to us, as the original polish on the plaques better matches that which is found on earlier items of the 18Th Century and not the smoother look we find on in-situ items from the mid 1700’s onwards. Even with the natural pitting inside the sanding marks on these plaques, we can still readily identify them as an older style than we see on original items stemming from the middle to later Qianlong period. During this later period, the sanding marks on jadeite and nephrite from Imperial pieces do not show, under this magnification, the striated, rougher, sanding marks found on either jadeite or nephrite, and are much smoother or entirely worn away, from the subsequent cleaning and polishing over the years. With every aspect of this wonderful Ruyi taken into consideration, we feel very comfortable placing it in the first half of the 18Th Century.

We would like to personally thank Ms. Stewart for the opportunity to study the Ruyi, and for her trust in allowing us every latitude on how we thought it should be studied. We also wish to thank Ms. Stewart at this time for her confidence and trust in the marketing of this exquisite Qing Dynasty treasure, and we should be able to have it for internet viewing when our new web site is finished, in less than a month from this writing.

David Fredericks  –  Yulongwei

Antiquities Plus…

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

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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