What kinds of jade are there? What are the characteristics? what do you think?
Jade can be divided into nephrite and jadeite, which are two different minerals. The colors of nephrite are translucent white, yellow, green and black, and the colors are evenly distributed. As for jadeite, there are mainly white, purple, yellow and green, and the uniformity of color distribution among different germplasm will be different.
The vast majority of jades produced in China are nephrite, and "sheep fat white jade" is a treasure in nephrite, with delicate texture and white color. Many exquisite jade works of art are carved from nephrite.
Jadeite is mainly produced in Myanmar and is even rarer than nephrite. Because jade is superior to nephrite in quality, color and price, jade ornaments on the market are mainly jade, and the demand of consumers is very great, so we focus on jadeite.
Lantian jade:
Produced in Lantian County, Shaanxi Province. Lantian jade is yellow, light green and opaque, and its hardness is 4 Mohs. It belongs to serpentine diopside. Lantian jade has a long mining history, which can be found in Hanshu, Zhangheng and Bangu. There are still some jade mines. Due to the low output, Hetian jade was used as jade material in various places after the Han Dynasty. Therefore, the development and application of lantian jade gradually lost. Even in the Ming Dynasty, Song Yingxing said in "Heavenly Creations" that Lantian was another name for Green Mountain (Kunlun Mountain), and Lantian was a place for storing and transporting jade. The geological department has visited lantian jade and is still mining it. According to Yi Binghuan, vice president of Gem Association, the large-scale "animal-faced jade auxiliary head" unearthed near Maoling, Xianyang, Shaanxi Province was made by lantian jade, indicating that the origin of Lantian Meiyu praised by Han and Tang people was near the capital at that time.
South Yu Yang:
Nanyangyu mining area is located in Dushan, Nanyang County, Henan Province, also known as "dushan jade" or "Duyu" for short. Nanyang jade is plagioclase jade with fine and pure texture, oily or glassy luster, good polishing performance, and transparent or slightly transparent. The hardness is 5.5 to 6.5 degrees. Nanyang jade is a colorful jade. Generally, multicolored jade composed of two or more colors is brightly colored, which is called: water white jade, white jade, black and white jade, green jade, green white jade, azure jade, jadeite jade, purple jade, bright brown jade, topaz, topaz, jet jade and variegated jade. Nanyang jade mining has a long history. The Neolithic Longshan culture unearthed in Shenmu, Shaanxi Province, the Yin Ruins jade unearthed in 1952, and the jade unearthed in 1976, all have examples of Nanyang jade as jade materials. The jade pots of the Yuan Dynasty now displayed in Beihai and Yuanmingyuan are also made of Nanyang jade carvings. According to the literature, Nanyang jade was exploited in the Han Dynasty. There are more than 1000 ancient jade mining pits in Dushan so far, which shows that Nanyang jade mining has a long history and a huge scale. Nanyang jade is rich in reserves and can still be produced on a large scale.
Jiuquan jade:
Produced in Qilian Mountain, Gansu Province, it is also called Qilian Jade. It belongs to serpentine jade. Translucent, mostly green, with even black spots. The hardness is 4.5 degrees to 5 degrees. The mining history of Jiuquan jade can be traced back to the Neolithic Age, and the exquisite jade of Qijia culture unearthed from the site of Niangniangtai in Wuwei is Jiuquan jade.
Xiuyan jade:
Named after Xiuyan in Liaoning, it is mainly produced in Xiuyan, also known as Xiuyu. It belongs to serpentine and is formed in metamorphic marble of magnesium carbonate rock. There are many mineral deposits in this geological environment in China, so the origin of similar jade is very extensive. The appearance of jadeite is turquoise and yellow-green. Translucent, waxy luster after polishing, hardness of 3.5 degrees to 5 degrees. The jade used in Hongshan Culture in the Neolithic Age was produced in Xiuyan Xiuyugou, commonly known as old jade, and it was tremolite nephrite. Most of the jades unearthed from the tombs of the richest people in Shang Dynasty are similar to those from the Wagou mine in Xiuyan. Wagou Mine has a long history of uranium mining and jade mining, and is rich in reserves. At present, it is the main jade mining area in China, accounting for about 60% of the national output.
Hetian jade
It is distributed in Hotan-Khotan shache-Tashkurgan, Qiemo County, Xinjiang, and on the northern slope of Kunlun Mountain, stretching for 1500 km. * * * There are nine producing areas. Hetian jade is mainly composed of tremolite-actinolite, and contains trace minerals such as diopside, serpentine, graphite and magnet. Form different colors such as white, turquoise, black and yellow. Most of them are monochromatic jade, and a few have variegated colors. Jade is translucent, shiny and greasy after polishing, with a hardness of 5.5 to 6.5 degrees. Hetian jade is sandwiched between rocks at an altitude of 3,500 to 5,000 meters. After long-term weathering, it was stripped into pieces of different sizes, collapsed on the hillside and washed into the river by rain. When the river dries up in autumn, the jade pieces collected in the river bed are called seed jade, and those mined in the rock stratum are called mountain materials. The earliest Hetian jade has been found, which comes from the tomb of a good woman in Yin Ruins. After the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Hetian jade gradually became the main jade material, collecting seed materials, and it was not until the Qing Dynasty that mountain materials were mined. Dayu was made during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty to control the water in Yushan. Sapphire weighs 10700 kilograms and is taken from Mileta Mountain.
The economic value of Hetian jade is evaluated according to the purity of color and texture. Its main varieties are:
1) white jade: containing tremolite above 95%, with white color, pure and delicate texture, moist and shiny. It is a high-quality variety of Hetian jade. During the prosperous period of jade-making in Han, Song and Qing dynasties, great attention was paid to the selection of materials, and high-quality white jade was often carved into "heavy objects".
2) Sheep fat white jade: the top grade of white jade, pure and delicate in texture, containing tremolite as high as 99%, and white as fine as jelly. The economic value of jade with the same weight is several times that of white jade. During the Qianlong period of Han Dynasty, Song Dynasty and Qing Dynasty, sheep fat white jade was highly respected.
3) Blue and white jade: There is no obvious difference between the texture and white jade, but the jade color is white with a hint of turquoise, which is the third-class jade in Hetian jade, and its economic value is slightly lower than that of white jade.
4) Sapphire: Light blue, turquoise and gray are all called sapphires, with uniform color and delicate texture, including tremolite 89% and actinolite 6%. It has a greasy luster. Rich in reserves, it is the main variety of jade collected or mined in past dynasties.
5) Topaz: the matrix is white jade, which is infiltrated by iron oxide in surface water for a long time and forms a yellow tone in cracks. According to the color change, it is named as: dense wax yellow, millet yellow, okra yellow, yellow flower yellow, egg yellow and so on. The dense wax yellow and okra yellow with strong colors are extremely rare, and their value can be equal to that of suet white jade. In the Qing dynasty, topaz was extremely rare because of its homophonic "emperor", and its economic value once exceeded that of white jade with sheep fat.
6) Sugar jade: iron oxide permeates tremolite to form different shades of red skin, deep red is "sugar jade" and "tiger skin jade", and white is slightly pink, which is called "pink jade". Sugar jade often forms a two-color jade material with white jade or plain jade, which can be used to make "pretty jade". The snuff bottle made of sugar jade shell seed material is called "gold-coated silver", which should be able to add value.
7) jet: tremolite is black, with graphite and magnets. Jet jade is mostly gray or gray-black jade with black stripes, so it is named "Dark clouds and pale ink, golden sable with beautiful sideburns" according to its shape. The dense black spots are called pure black, which is more valuable than other jet varieties. Jet has a waxy luster, which is not suitable for carving patterns because of uneven color. It is mostly used to make utensils inlaid with gold and silver thread.
8) Jasper: produced in Zhungeer jade mine, also known as Tianshan Jasper. It is grayish green, dark green and dark green, with pure dark green as the top grade. The quality of black spots, black spots or jade tendons is one grade worse. Jasper contains tremolite more than 85%, which is delicate, translucent and oily. It is a medium grade jade.
List of common jade varieties
Jade is divided into white jade, jasper, sapphire, jet, topaz, topaz, green jade, Beijing white jade and so on. Geographically, there are Xinjiang jade, Henan jade, xiuyan jade jade (also known as Xinshan jade), Australian jade, dushan jade jade, Southern jade and Canadian jade, among which Xinjiang Hetian jade is a famous specialty in China.
Agate-white, gray, red, blue, green, yellow, sheep liver, gallbladder, chicken blood and black agate. From the pattern, there are: rushes, algae, twisted silk, hawksbill agate and so on. Produced in northeast China, Inner Mongolia, Yunnan and Guangxi. And there is agate with water, called water bile agate.
Stones-turquoise, lapis lazuli, hibiscus stone, wood-changed stone (also known as tiger skin stone), peach stone (also known as golden powder jade), malachite, sapphire, sheep liver stone, tiger eye stone, Dongling stone, etc. Among them, turquoise is a famous product in Yunyang County, Hubei Province, China.
Crystal-crystal, amethyst, topaz, ink crystal, tea crystal (also known as smoke crystal), soft crystal, bristle crystal and hair crystal. It is produced all over China.
Emerald-there are purple, red, gray, yellow, white and other colors, but green is the most expensive. It is a famous specialty of our neighbor Myanmar.
Coral is a benthic coelenterate fossil, red and white, which is produced in Taiwan Province Province, China, with excellent quality.
Beads-pearls (seawater pearls and freshwater pearls) and cultured pearls (seawater pearls and freshwater pearls).
Treasures-diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, aquamarine, cat's eye gems, discolored gems, topaz gems, opals, tourmalines, pointed gems, garnet gems, zircon gems, olive emeralds, emeralds, quartz cat's eyes, feldspar gems, etc.
Nowadays, the style, shape, decoration, creativity and workmanship of ornamental jade have been greatly improved, and its auspiciousness, ornamental and artistry are emphasized. Its main varieties are jade figurines, flowers and birds, animals, utensils, jade mountain seed material carving and other small and medium-sized ornaments, all kinds of jade bonsai, agate ornamental stones, crystal rough stones, jade samples, jade seed materials, etc., from rough stones to carving. People can enjoy the spirit and culture while watching and playing, especially touching jade ornaments in leisure often produces a comfortable and elegant taste, which makes people feel incomparable joy, excitement and satisfaction. Also, in interior decoration, jade can be combined with calligraphy and painting, antiques and other handicrafts to create an elegant cultural atmosphere indoors.