Jade: The Stone of Heaven
For thousands of years, jade has been the most valued substance in China. Since Neolithic times, Chinese jade was mined in the river beds and mountains of Sinkiang Province. The stone varies in color from creamy white (known as “mutton fat jade”) to shades of green, blue, yellow, red, and black. During the 18th century, a darker green, or “spinach” jade, began to be imported from Burma by the Qing Emperor Qianlong. However, most Chinese connoisseurs prefer the lighter stone.
In China, jade is associated with purity, virtue and immortality as well as being a symbol of wealth and authority. The earliest Chinese dictionary defines jade as “beauty in stone with five virtues: its warm glow stands for humanity; its purity for moral integrity; its pleasant sound for wisdom; its hardness for justice; and its permanence for perseverance and bravery.”
Jade is also intimately associated with imperial power and majesty. As the Son of Heaven, each Chinese Emperor ruled by the moral authority vested in him by Heaven. Jade was the Stone of Heaven, and used to fashion many of the ritual objects used in prescribed Imperial rites and rituals.
Jade is one of the hardest of stones, and is shaped by grinding, rather than by carving. It would have taken many months, or even years, to produce any one of the 47 objects displayed in this exhibit.
