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What is Jade?

Jade is an ornamental stone used in jewellery as well as in cultural representations. There are two kinds of jade and it can be easy to confuse the two.

The first is called Nephrite and is basically a combination of magnesia and silica, with quantities of alumina and oxides of iron and chrome. The color can vary from a pale soapy greenish white to a clear and deep green, the most favoured of colors. The green is due to the iron content and the more iron the greener the jade will be.

The other form of jade is called Jadeitite and this is a different form of mineral called sodium- and aluminium-rich pyroxene. The gem form of the mineral is, again, a microcrystalline interlocking but crystal matrix.

The word jade is derived from the Spanish term, "piedra de ijada", or Lion Stone. Possibly due to its reputation for treating and curing various illnesses of the kidneys and loins. The word Nephrite is derived from the Latin, "Lapis Nephriticus."

Both forms of jade have been used since prehistoric times for stone carving despite the hardness of both materials. Jadeitite is around the same hardness as quartz with nephrite somewhat softer. Both are very tough however and extremely hard to carve, Nowadays diamond duct is frequently used to carve both. Because of their virtual similarity, the difference between then was not known until a French mineralogist isolated the difference.

Jade has been traditionally used since prehistoric times for axe heads, knives and clubbing weapons as well as for ornaments and jewelery.

One can find jade in a variety of colors from the milky white (In China known as "mutton fat" jade) through to the deep green and even blue and lavender-mauve or pink, although these are extremely rare. Of the two types of Jade Jadeitite is the more rare and consequently the most expensive. So when buying jade one has to establish the type of jade it is to assure one is paying the right price.

Nephrite and jadeite were used from prehistoric periods for hard stone carving. Jadeite has about the same hardness as quartz, while nephrite is somewhat softer. Both nephrite and jadeite are tough, but nephrite is tougher than jadeite. They can be delicately shaped. Thus it was not until the 19th century that a French mineralogist determined that "jade" was in fact two different materials. The trade name jadite is sometimes applied to translucent or opaque green glass. Of all jades, the translucent emerald-green jadeite is and has been probably the most prized both today and historically. Bright green Jadeitite from Guatemala was treasured by Mesoamerican cultures, and as "kingfisher" jade, vivid green rocks from Burma became the preferred stone of post-1800 Chinese imperial scholars and rulers. Burma (Myanmar) and Guatemala are the principal sources of modern gem Jadeitite, and Canada of modern lapidary nephrite. Nephrite jade was used mostly in pre-1800 China as well as in New Zealand, the Pacific Coast and Atlantic Coasts of North America, Neolithic Europe, and south-east Asia.

Jade has also been known by many other names, including:

Jadeite
Agate verdâtre
Feitsui
Jadeit
Jadeita
Natronjadeit
Yunnan Jade
Yu-stone
Nephrite
Aotea
Axe-stone
B.C. Jade
Beilstein
British Columbian Jade
Canadian Jade
Dushan Jade
Nanyang Jade
Du Jade
Henan Yu
Grave Jade
Kidney Stone
Lapis Nephriticus
Nephrit
Nephrita
Nephrite (of Werner)
New Zealand Greenstone
New Zealand Jade
Siberian Jade
Sinkiang jade
Spinach Jade
Talcum Nephriticus
Tomb Jade

Some other minerals are sometimes sold as jade so one has to watch for these also when buying jade.

These are commonly:

Serpentine also called by other names such as: bowenite, "Korean jade," "Suzhou jade," "Styrian jade," "Olive jade", and "New jade") Carnelian.
aventurine quartz.
glass, grossularite.
Vesuvianite.
Soapstone.
Australian chrysoprase. And lastly.
"Transvaal jade" or "African jade".

So when you ask the question, what is jade, hopefully you will have a better idea than you might have had before.

Chinese Jade

Chinese jade has been around for a long time. Jade ornaments have been unearthed in the tomb of the Shang kings so it is evident jade has been mined from as early as 6000BC.

In fact during Neolithic times, the known sources of nephrite jade in China were the now exhausted deposits in the Ningshao area in the Yangtze River Delta (Lanzhou 3400 - 2250 BC) and also in an area of the Liaoning province and Inner Mongolia (Hongshan culture 4700 - 2200 BC).

Since time immemorial jade has had great significance in the Chinese Empire comparable to that of diamonds and gold in the west.

As early as 6000 BC Dushan Jade has been mined. Jade was used to create many utilitarian and ceremonial objects, ranging from indoor decorative items to jade burial suits. Jade was considered the "imperial gem".

Jade has been found in many parts of China. From the region of Khotan in the Western Chinese province of Xinjiang regions to other regions such as Lantian, Shaanxi. There, white and greenish nephrite jade can be found in small quarries and as pebbles and boulders in the rivers that flow from the Kuen-Lun mountain range northward into the Takla-Makan desert area.

According to Wikipedia, "River jade collection was concentrated in the Yarkand, the White Jades (Yurungkash) and Black Jade (Karakash) Rivers. From the Kingdom of Khotan, on the southern leg of the Silk Road, yearly tribute payments consisting of the most precious white jade were made to the Chinese Imperial court and there transformed into objets d'art by skilled artisans as jade was considered more valuable than gold or silver. Jade became a favorite material for the crafting of Chinese scholars objects, such as rests for calligraphy brushes, as well as the mouthpieces of some opium pipes, due to the belief that breathing through jade would bestow longevity upon smokers who used such a pipe."

Jadeite, with its bright emerald-green, pink, lavender, orange and brown colours was also only imported from Burma to China after 1800. The vivid green variety, known as Feicui or Kingfisher (feathers) Jade, quickly replaced nephrite as the imperial variety of jade.

In the Imperial Chinese empire, jade has always been regarded with a special significance, comparable with that of gold and diamonds in the West. Chinese artisans have produced some of the finest jade sculptures and figurines ever seen in Chinese jade.

Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC) once stated that there are 11 De (virtue) in jade.

"The wise have likened jade to virtue. For them, its polish and brilliancy represent the whole of purity; its perfect compactness and extreme hardness represent the sureness of intelligence; its angles, which do not cut, although they seem sharp, represent justice; the pure and prolonged sound, which it gives forth when one strikes it, represents music. Its color represents loyalty; its interior flaws, always showing themselves through the transparency, call to mind sincerity; its iridescent brightness represents heaven; its admirable substance, born of mountain and of water, represents the earth. Used alone without ornamentation it represents chastity. The price that the entire world attaches to it represents the truth. To support these comparisons, the Book of Verse says: "When I think of a wise man, his merits appear to be like jade."

Here is a list of the various periods going from the Neolithic period, around 7000 to 1600 BC and back up to the present day (in antique terms) to Xuantong of the 1909 to 1911 period.