Jade, or “yu”, has been a symbol
of Chinese civilisation since
prehistoric times, and was the
most highly valued precious stone.
Jade
had that status in Chinese culture even
before the Bronze Age. The emperor’s
seal wasn’t made of gold or silver, but of
the more valuable jade. It was seen as the
most noble of materials and symbolised
nobility, perfection, beauty, purity,
virtue, continuity and immortality. Jade
was the “essence of the strength of the
mountains”, which enabled man to
communicate with the gods.
The earliest
Chinese dictionary, put together by
Xu Shen in the second century A.D.,
defined jade as jadeite, nephrite, jasper,
serpentine and crystal. It says, “Jade is
beauty in stone. It symbolizes rectitude
because its translucence reveals the
colour and markings within; wisdom
because of its pure and penetrating note
when struck; courage because it breaks
but doesn’t bend; equity because it can
have sharp edges which don’t, however
injure.”
By the eighteenth century it was
mined, but before that had to be found
in mountains and riverbeds. According
to legend, women searched for it in the
rivers with their bare feet. Their skin
was sensitive to jade’s special surface,
particularly because the yang of the one
attracted the yin of the other.
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Jade was considered the essence of heaven and
earth. The purest and most costly jade is
lychee-pulp white. Olive green tones are
most commonly found. The varieties of
colour are caused by different minerals
in the stone. The oldest artefacts found
are ritual axes, flat discs called “bi”
and “cong”. According to Chinese
cosmology the sky is round. The earth
is square and reflects the five spatial
directions: east, south, west, north and
centre. The “bi” was a round disc with a
round hole in the middle, a kind of broadring. |
The magical beauty of the material meant anything made of jade was highly prized. That is true too of the snuff bottles of the
Manchu or Qing reign (1644–1911) and
the period of the Republic, i.e. from the
revolution of Sun Yatsen (1911) to the
present day.
Fine ground jade powder was taken
to ward off diseases and evil spirits.
The tradition is reflected incidentally in
its western name. Jade is derived from “piedra de la ijada”, Spanish for “stone
of softness”, e.g. to soften a kidney stone.
The Daoists (Taoists) hoped to attain
immortality by regular consumption of
powdered jade.
According to an old Chinese belief,
jade reaches its full beauty only after
long caressing. After years of stroking
with the hand the stone reveals all its
liveliness and transparency. Thus every
object of jade (and bronze for that matter
too) destined for the emperor underwent
long and careful rubbing. Presenting
a piece to the “Son of Heaven” shortly
after mining or polishing would have
been an insult to his imperial dignity.
And so those jade snuff bottles made
for well-to-do customers owe part of
their perfect beauty and their enigmatic
lustre to the many hours in which they
were affectionately contemplated in the
hand, touched, felt, fingered, stroked and
caressed.
Should you buy a jade object in a shop,
to evaluate its authenticity note whether
the material feels cool, smooth and hard.
Don’t hesitate to pull out a knife. It might
upset the shop owner, but genuine jade
can’t be scratched with a blade.
© Klaus G. Muller |
Notwithstanding the difficulties of
working with jade, it was always cut and
polished carefully in order to honour the
gods of the heavens. The “cong” was a
long, hollow ornament with square sides,
resembling a pipe rounded inside but
with a square exterior. It was supposed
to appease the good and evil spirits of
the earth. Ritual objects, amulets to
chase away evil spirits, lucky charms
and official emblems were usually made
of jade. The living wore jade as a sign
of their moral integrity. The dead were
provided with it to preserve their bodies
and comfort their souls. Shrouds made
of around 2,500 small jade plates were
supposed to radiate life-preserving forces
and protect the body from decay.
After the Song (or Sung, 960–1279) and Yuan dynasties (1279–1368), jade was increasingly used for everyday articles, rather than just for ritual objects. |
