JADE AND THE ANTIQUE USE OF GEMS

By HERBERT P. WHITLOCK Curator of Minerals and Gems, American Museum

Reprinted from Natural History Magazine for July-August and September-October, 1932

GUIDE LEAFLET SERIES, No. 79 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY NEW YORK, 1934

JADE

AND THE ANTIQUE USE OF GEMS

By Herbert P. Whitlock Curator of Minerals and Gems, American Museum

R eprintedfrom Natural Historv Magazinefar July-August and September- October, 1 932

GumE LEAFLET No. 79 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY NEW YORK, 1934

THE ANTIQUE USE OF GEMS

The Appeal of olor and Rarity of Certain Mineral to Primitive as Well as Modern Man- Their U e a harms, Symbol , and for Per onal Adornment

BY H. P. WHITLOCK urator of :\Iinerals and G e:n , American l\Iuseurn

A :MO G the ancient expre ion of this i beyond the power. of even our f--\. human culture which have been modern magic, we must content our elve handed down to us throughout the with the con ideration of those relics age , we find ample evidence that our that have come down to us from the past, prehistoric forebears began to appreciate a handful of beads here, a tarnished and the decorative value of gem and preciou battered brooch there, all that is left to tones at an extremely e:1rly tage in their tell us of forgotten beautie who e charm development. they enhanced before Helen wore her The subtle charm that hold a Twenti­ tar- apphires or Cleopatra her emeralds eth Centmy woman pellbound before a or Mary Stuurt her garnet . jeweler's window doubtle ~ prompted Among the Germanic tribes that :i\Iother Eve to de- roamed over Cen­ vi e ways of hang- tral Emope half a ing t h ese vivid m illenium before scraps of color about our era, amber her person, and of wa hed up on the the e decorative de­ ea. tern hore of the vice which have Baltic and roughly developed into our shaped!into round pre ent day form brads was a tand­ of jewelry,the neck­ ard medium of ex­ lace i without change. A necklace que tion the most of the e rude, un­ ancient. From such even, amber lump rough assemblages was found in a of trung-together grave of the period gem pebble as the of about 300 B.c., · garnet found in a in Hallstatt, Au - ti~ 1, Bohemian grave of THE MOST PRIMITIVE NECKLACE tria. Smely it would This small handful of rough garnet pebbles was ,, the Bronze Age to found in a Bohemian grave of the Bronze Age. require but little 1 the most elaborate Aside from the fact that every pebble is drilled, imagination to pic­ there was no attempt to shape them into beads. creation of the ( pecimen in the . Y. State Mu eum, Albany) tme such a barbaric modern jeweler' trophy a the im­ art, we can trace in unbroken sequence mortal necklace of the goddes , Freyja,

throughout the ages 1 and in most of the famou "Bri ingamen" of Norse the countrie of the ancient. world, the mythology. evolution of the necklace. The Gallo-Roman inhabitant of France It would be highly intere ting if we in the Third and Fourth Centmie A.D. could conjme up a pageant of necklace were lovers of fine apparel and jewel . wearers of all periods and race , but since The necklace beads of delicately colored 4 A 11IERI A JIU 'EU.M GUIDE LEAFLET

side , quite different in appearance from tho e of Central and orthern Europe. And mo t important and ignificant of all, from the ancient mine near ishapur in northea tern Per ia came the turquoi which ha o long been a ociated with Iranian cultnre, and which wa carved into necklace ber1d , who e rude, thickened di k uggest those made today by the Navajo and Pueblo Indians of our own outhwe t. Almo t incredibly old are the long, cylindrical bead of Chinese jade which repre ent one of the earlie t u e to which inhabitant of the " Flowery Kingdom" put their national gem tone. ROCK CRYSTAL BEADS FROM CENTRAL Only one civilization other than hina AMERICA ha made u e of jade for per onal adorn­ Repre enting a very early stage in the evolution of the necklace. They were probably made about ment. ecklace bead of jade, irregularly the beginning of our era

agate and orange-red carnelian of this period show a wide range in quality of workmanship but are, on the whole, much better shaped than tho e of the ofter amber of the previous example. More­ over, the heavier trings, some of which contain bead a large as an inch and a half in diameter, were undoubtedly worn by men. The agate, carnelian, and rock crystal used by the e early French lapidaries may well have come from France, ince the e tone ar to be found today on French soil. Turning to Persia we find necklace bead , fa hioned out of a number of tone , who e rough shape and lack of fini h indicate an early period in the development of this civilization. From Afgh ani tan came the deep blue lapis lazuli, one of the earlie t tone to be u ed by man, and here wrought into roughly angular unpoli hed form , mere lump of tone with the ide rubbed mooth. From Europe came caravan bearing A EARLY PERSIA ECKLACE amber from the Baltic which wa carved Thi tring of necklace beads was fashioned from rough lumps of lapis lazuli, brought by the trad­ into fl at cylindrical bead with rounded ing caravans from Afghanistan THE ANTIQUE USE OF GEMS 5 rnunded but nicely polished, have been found among the remains of the Zapotec culture of ancient Mexico which flourished at about the beginning of our era. Earlier beads from Central America are very roughly fashioned out of rock crystal, and a very recent excavation has brought to light beautiful necklace jewelry from Mexico in which brilli:rnt, translucent, green jade has been combined with gold in a manner that would do credit to a modern designer. In the bazaars of India, Ceylon, and Burmah, there sit today, as their fore­ bears have sat for centuries, the East Indian gem cutters, fashioning necklace beads from the gem stones of their countries. Sapphires, rubies, garnets, a rich wealth of color go into these neck­ laces, the elements of which are sometimes roughly faceted, but more often of some­ what irregular rounded shape, following the time-honored custom of the East, that strives to produce the largest and heaviest gem possible from the fragment of material used. AN ANCIENT CHINESE ECKLACE These cylindrical beads are roughly carved from The necklaces which have come down Chinese jade. They belong to the legendary past to us from the higher development in of that fascinating old corner of the Orient. (Specimen from the Drummond Gift) culture of the later Egyptian dynasties show a very considerable scope in the tance of the artificer to waste any of the materials used. Amethyst, lapis lazuli, material of the rarer and consequently carnelian, turquois, jasper, rock crystal, more precious stone, or possibly some garnet, and even emerald were freely Rymbolism may have been attached to its combined with gold to produce bead regular natural shape. At least this jewelry forms of great taste and charm. treatment of emerald may be observed It is quite significant that Egyptian not only in Egyptian jewlery but also in gem cutters seemed unwilling to alter that of Cyprus and Etruria. such regular crystal forms as the hexagonal From the necklace com posed of strung prism of emerald by cutting them into beads it is but a step to one in which the round or prolate beads. These forms roughly shaped stones were encased in a were usually preserved intact in the bead metal setting. In Egypt we find this design, and whereas the beads fashioned advance taking place at quite an early from amethyst, carnelian, or amazon stage, as instanced by an example in the stone were made spherical or cylindrical, collection of the Metropolitan lluseum of the six-sided prisms of emerald were Art, where a small, square plaque of gold simply pierced in the direction of their enclosing an oval carnelian forms the axes, and left otherwise unworked. middle element of a double string of The reason for this may lie in the reluc- unset carnelian beads. 6 A JIERICA JIU EUJf GUIDE LEAFLET

TWO NECKLACES OF AGATE The Gallo-Roman people of France in the early centuries of our era fancied aaate for t heir necklaces, some of the heavier of which were worn by men. These two come from the Department of Gard in Languedoc From very early time until approxi­ dre and per on in gold and silver, it mately the period of Ptolemaic king we wa inevitable that the e ornament find the Egyptians making u e of a sort hould be embelli hed with gem tone of mo aic of gem tones, tmquoi , and that had already became familiar to man lapi lazuli, et in t hin gold boxe , the through t he medium of earlier and impler latter being haped to t he de ign o that, jewelry form . when the whole wa poli hed, it had ome­ A triking in tance of thi adaptation what the a pect of t he cloi onne work of of the earlier to the later usage is to be Rus ia. found in the necklace that constitute The tran ition from uch primitive t he ceremonial trapping of a izier of combination of gem tone with the ·Morocco of the middle of the Eighteenth preciou metal , to the more elaborate Century. The roughly rounded aqua­ etting of Greece, Rome, and the later marine that furni h the larger jewels for culture of E urope and A ia i both ea y the medallion setting that constitute thi and obviou , and once made, t he develop­ regalia are pierced, clearly indicating that ment of jewelry form wa imply a they were once strung together to form a matter of that arti tic progre . which necklace of bead. of a much earlier and follow o clo ely upon hi toric and more primitive type; how much earlier political progre . As the need of an we can only conjecture. ever advancing civilization called for The use of variou mineraJs a material more and more varied ornamentation of from which objects for per onal adorn- THE ANTIQUE USE OF GEMS 7

ment were made, ancient though thi use is, does not constitute the only, nor even the mo t deep-seated idt of the question of the antique use of gem . It i safe to a ume that from the very earliest period, when people began to recognize the beauty of certain stones, they al o began to a cribe to them certain upernatural propertie as amulets and t::i,lismans. And as far back as we can trace, they wore ome material token in the form of a stone to guard them from the ill of life, real or imaginary. The wearing of such amulets is, in all probability, older than the wear­ ing of jewelry, and, no doubt, the one grew by insensible steps out of the other. It wa es entially a natural and logical act for the primitive man who found an

BEADS OF DEEP, FIERY, I DIA r GAR 3:TS The necklace beads cut by the native gem cutters of India, Burmah, or Ceylon have a character of their own

attractive or unusual bit of tone to ascribe to it occult power . As he ad­ vanced in culture, he shaped these bits of stone into increasingly regular forms, and finally as an added fetish, he scratched on them images of his gods and invoca­ tions to them. A talisman was supposed to be endowed with wider and more general powers than was an amulet, the function of the latter being to ward off evil. The addition of a magical combina­ tion of words would make either a talis­ man or an amulet a" charm." Some of the earliest amulets of which we have any knowledge are the little stone cylinders that were used among the As yrians, Babylonians, Persian , and Hittites, as seals. These cylinders, some of which date as far back as 4000 B.C., are carved from various minerals, such as DEEP BROWN COPAL BEADS The1natives of the west coast of Africa, the steatite, serpentine, hermatite, lapis lazuli, coun.try of "Trader Horn," made and wore this ja per, amazon stone, chalcedony, marble, necklace of copal, which was their substitute for amber and rock crystal. fany of the e materials 8 AMERICAN MU EUM GUIDE LEAFLET are e teemed today for t heir beauty as design , which included figures of god , medium for mall carving , proving that men, and animals, as well a in cription, modern taste in thi matter i at lea t in cuneiform characters. The inscription founded upon ancient precedent. often gave the name of the wearer, the The engraving was of course incised, name of his father, and the name of hi both becau e this was the ea ie t and god. The ignificance of this eq uence most obvious way of engraving hard becomes apparent when we consider that material , and becau e the impression the official name given to every man upon made by rolling such a seal over a uit­ coming of age placed him under the pro­ able soft substance was more natural and tection of a god, who forthwith made his more easily read. abode in the body of this particular man Considerable skill was displayed by subject to hi good behavior. But hould t hese early lapidaries in cutt.ing their he be i::o unfortunate a to sin again t his fellow men or against the gods, the divine pre ence left him and he immedi­ ately became the prey of some one of the even devil . Asia tic cylindrical seals of this type were not set in rings a are those of our day, but were hung around the neck, or fastened on the arm. A typical example of n. Babylonian cylinder from among the small but representative series in the Morgan Gem Collec­ tion, i carved from lim­ pid rock crystal and is approximately 3000 years old. This i engraved with an image of the storm god Rammon, who was identical wit.h the Rimmon of the Old Te - tament (2 Kings, v. 18). He is here represented in a short robe holding a scepter in one hand, and accompanied by his wife, Sahla, whose figure in a

FROM NORTH AFRICA long, flounced dre 1 A string of old and crudely shaped necklace beads. The pale green shown on both side of aquamarine whi ch compose its elements are &i mil ar to those which adorn the large medallions in the necklace on page 9 him. THE ANTIQUE USE OF GEMS 9

RICH AND COLORFUL The necklace of a Vizier of Morocco of the period of about 1750. The aquamarine gems of the large medallions have been pierced and were at one time a string of beads like that shown on page 8 In Egypt the most popular amulet was among these figures of the sacred beetle the well known scarabreus or scarab, the that replaced the heart in the mummies somewhat conventionalized image of a of the Egyptian dead. large black beetle regarded as a symbol of It was believed that when the soul of resurrection and immortality, since it was the deceased came to be judged before believed that no female of this insect Osiris, his heart was weighed in the existed. These carved beetles were en­ balance held by Anubis against his good graved, as were the Asiatic seals, the or evil deeds in life. Consequently the inscription being cut on the oval under­ charm inscribed on a heart scarab in­ side of the conventionalized figure in voked the gods of the underworld to deal idiographic. characters. leniently with the heart of the dead. An Scarabs were even more typically example inscribed on a scarab of green amulets than were the cylinder seals of feldspar would read1 Babylon and Assyria, for although they commonly bore the name of the wearer, Oh ye gods who seize upon Hearts, and pluck they were in many instances inscribed out the whole Heart, and whose hands fashion with magical charms taken from the Book anew the Heart of a person according to what be hath done, Lo now let that be forgiven to him by of the Dead. Beautifully worked funeral you. or heart scarabs were often made from Hail to you, Oh ye Lords of Everlasting time green jasper, amethyst, lapis lazuli, and Eternity. amazon stone, carnelian and serpentine, Let not my Heart be torn from me by your fingers. while the more precious emerald and 1Quoted from The 1"\!Ia gic of J ewels and Charm s b y Dr. turquois were not without representation G eorge F . Kunz, p. 319 . 10 AJ!ERICA J1USEU11l GUIDE LAEFLET

A NECKLACE FROM ANCIE T CYPR S hawing a charming combination of gold with agate and carnelian beads carved as turtle . This use of gold and gem stone reflect strongly Egyptian influence. (Specimen in Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Let not my Heart be fashioned anew accord­ ing to the evil things said against me. For this Heart of mine is the Heart of the god of mighty name , of the great god, who e words are in bis members, and who giveth free cour e to bis Heart, which is within him. And most keen of insight is his Heart among the gods. Ho to me, Heart of mine; I am in posse ion of thee, I am they master and thou art by me; fall not away from me; I am the dictator to whom thou shalt obey in the etherworld. Among the people that were influenced by Egyptian culture, the scarab gradually became more highly conventionalized, lo ing much of its resemblance to a beetle a it lo t it ymbolic and e oteric ignifi­ cance. Thu we have the caraboid, an oval dome-shaped . eal, inscribed on the flat underside as was the carab, but no longer with the magic charm of Egypt. In other words the caraboid, a purely ornamental engraved tone, i literally the " tepping tone" between the scarab and EGYPTIAN OR , YRIAN NECKLACE Of the ixth Centur A.D., Rough prisms of the modern form of eal. A form of light-colored enamel are used as bead , alternated engraved amulet that came into u e in with pearl in a gold setting. (Specimen in Metropolitan Mu eum of Art) Per ia about the Eighth entury, and THE ANTIQUE U E OF GEUS 11 that reached it culmination in elabora­ tion from the Sixteenth to the even­ teenth enturies, wa made from poli hed, flat labs of chalcedony and carnelian, varying in size and shape, but rarely more than two and a half inche in longe t di­ men ion . The e Per ian eal belonged to the lVIo lem culture, and ince the fo­ hammedan code forbid the depicting of natural objects, the engravers of these amulet were restrained from u ing the ymboli m employed by peoples of other faiths. As a con equence they all bear text from the Koran in cribed in Arabic character , the engraving in many in- tance being beautifully executed. The quaint Arabic letter thn,t look like some glorified kind of shorthand, are highly decorative, and were embellished with loving care by the Mo lem engravers. The maller and older example are AMETHYST BEADS mostly oval or more rarely cushion­ A necklace of the early Christian Era (4th- 6th Centuries) showing strong Egyptian influence. shaped and were lettered with incised (Specimen in Metropolitan Museum of Art)

AN EARLY EGYPTIAN BROOCH Here the design is formed by carefully shaped pieces of turquois and lapis lazuli, each et in a little box of gold. This gem mosaic was the forerunner of jewel settings. (Specimen in the Mu eum of the New York Historical Society) 12 AJIERICA~ JI E JI G IDE LEAFLET character of ten around it. Al o we deeplycuta though meet with con ider­ for u e a eal . able repetition a The larger and more text of notable ef­ elaborate form , ficacy a a charm have a broad, heart- being u ed on many haped outline, and amulet . Here i are repre entative one from one of the of the later period. later eal , now a In the e the letter­ part of the ~!organ ing of the central Gem Collection. panel i very light­ A CYLINDER EAL ly rai ed again t a Carved from rock cry tal in Babylon about CENTER: And the 2000 B.c. the left i hown the impre ion Thunder declare matte background made by rolling the cylinder over a piece of oft Hi Glory with Hu, clay compo ed of fine Prai e, and the an­ cro ed line , o that the in cription gels al o for awe of Him. tand out on a poli hed urface again t BORDER: In the name of Allah, the compa - a dead one. The urrounding border i ionate, the Merciful. llah i He be ides whom there i no god, the Everliving, the lettered with a longer text in maller elf- ubsisting by whom all ub ist. lumber inci ed character . does not overtake him nor sleep. Whatever

T othing can be more appealing than i in the Heaven , and whatever i in the the exqui ite delicacy and detail of thi Earth i Hi . Who is he that can intercede engraving a revealed when the light with Him but by His permi ion? He know what hath been before them, and what shall trike aero the poli hed face of the be after them, and they cannot comprehend lettering. The effect i much the ame anything out of Hi knowledge except what and achieved in the ame way a that he plea es. Hi knowled e extend over the which one ee on Heavens and the an old engraved Earth, and the up­ holding of them both n·ord blade. burden Him not. It i quite fre­ nd He i the mo t quent amongtheen­ hio-h, the great, graved chalcedony A notable excep­ amulet of both the tion to the almo t oval and the heart- univer al u e of ha ped type to quartz for the e find a hort text, or ~Io lem eal , i an ometime only the irregular lab of tur­ name of the Proph­ quoi in the :.\!organ et, occupying the Gem Collection, center of the de- five inches by three, ign and a longer A PER IAX A~fGLET engraved with text wrought a, a Carved from chalcedony and engraved with text about two thou- from the Koran. The Arabic lettering has the border or panel effect of an intricate and beautiful decoration. and word. on MMON D C;IFT COLLECTIO

TH E F IVE HAPPINESSES

JADE The Mythology and Symbolism Expressed m the Carvings of the Jewel of Heaven

BY HERBERT P. WHITLOCK Curator of Minerals and Gems, Am erican Museum

EARLY twenty-four hundred years term "jade" are included massive vari­ ago Confucius, speaking of the eties of at least two mineral species,-a N "jewel of Heaven" said, "In massive pryoxene known as jadeite, having Ancient times men found the the composition of a soda alu- likeness of all excellent quali­ mina ·silicate, and a tough, ties in jade." compact am phi bole, called Perhaps nothing can nephrite, and corre­ so vividly present sponding in com- to us the remote position to a lime antiquity to which magnesia iron sili­ we must turn to cate. So closely do find the beginnings these mineral ma­ of Chinese carved terials resemble jade than the words each other in tex- "in ancient times' ' ture and outward from the lips of this characteristics that old sage. And it may it is often difficult to not be amiss for us to distinguish them apart, enquire into the questions especially when carved. of how and why Of the two, jade­ A FINGERING PIECE these orientals ite is slightly the Of white jade, in which a brown-colored area should regard this has been used for the ears and face of the harder, having a stone as the em­ "happiness" bat. The bulk of the piece rep­ hardness of 7 in the resents a bag of grain (for prosperity). Below bodiment of all the bat may be seen the cords which tie the Mohs scale as com­ virtues. mouth of the bag. The whole carving is pared with about wonderfully smooth to the touch. Whitlock Under the general Collection 6.5 for nephrite. 14 A~MERICAN J;JU EU11I GUIDE LEAFLET

_J_ ~ ::c,_J I L /fE\ b C d

h

j k l

THE CHINESE CHARACTER MEA ING IMMORTALITY With some of the conventionalized variations (Sho marks). a Written character. b From an old embroidered silk. c From a suit of armor of the imperial guard. d From a jade wine pot (Tang dynasty). e-h Variations mostly in raised carvings on jade. j, k From jade pendant (K' ien Lung period). l Movable pivot from a jade prayer wheel

Also the specific gravity of jadeite is throughout the world, there are but two rather higher than that of nephrite; 3.34 regions where the use of thi material ha as compared with about 2.95- 3.00. risen in cultural degree from the purely By rea on of its toughne sand relative utilitarian to the decorative stage that hardness, jade was a favorite place it among the ornamental material for the fashioning of tone. implements employed by prim­ In the portion of the tropical itive man. Wherever jade was America compri ing Southern obtainable, either from a native Mexico, Yucatan, Guatemala, source or through trade, we Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, find men of the cultural tage and po sibly Ecuador and Peru, corresponding to the late Neo­ the pre- olumbian culture lithic era employing nephrite, furnished many carved jade and occasionally jadeite, a objects of decoration well with­ materials for celts, axe , and in the scope of ancient jewelry. other primitive tools and weap­ WHITE JADE cARvrno REP- There are now no known de­ nEsENTlNG THE IMMORTAL ons, much as t he natives of WARRIOR cHuN T'1 RIDING posits of either jadeite or neph- oN THE ONE-EYED PEACOCK. New Zealand at pre ent make wmTLoc K oLLE T i oN rite in the e countries, and at use of their local nephrite. But, , the time of the conquest of although such jade implements of early Mexico by ortez, jade wa o rare and man have been found in many places o highly esteemed by the Aztec that it JADE 15 constituted their most preciou pos e sion, of the ocher or umber shades. Since t he worth many times its weight in gold. oxidizing agencies producing this urface It is, however, among the Chineve that change of color are those that operate best the high e timation of jade ------in the upper layers of the soil, place it above all other gem it follows t hat jade piece tone . And it is in China which have been buried that we find the use of for long periods of time jade not only extend- exhibit it in the highest ing back into vast an- degree. tiquity, but furnishing Nephrite from local u with a means of sources in Shen i and tracing through the other Chinese prov- countless examples of inces, or brought from both ancient and modern Eastern Turkestan, or carved object the devel- possibly from a depo it opment of a highly in- .,._ GIRDLE PENDANT cARVED FROM werTE JADE near Lake Baikal, fur- ao"' rNc THE I :MMORTAL CH ANG-K o, RIDING BIS teresting and attrac- :\lAGic coLLAPsrnLE M ULE. wHITLocK oLLEcTroN nished most of the jade tive expres ion of the of this period. In color lapidary art. the stone from these As far back a the deposits varied from period of the Chow white and gray-green, dynasty of the Eleventh through leaf-green to Century B. c., we find dark laurel-leaf-green, nephrite used for carved the depth of color in- design s, decorated cre asing with t he chiefly with geometric amount of iron con- motives. _ r-, ,a tained in the nephrite. Although jade ·of this Some j a d e i te from early period was origin- Shensi and Yunnan ally of some shade of provinces of China, and green, corresponding to from Tibet was no doubt ne2hrite as we know it also used for Chow carv- today, the green color ings, as for the worked has, in many instances jade of later period . It. been altered to some is however, difficult to shade of brown, ocher, separate t he jadeite of or dull red. This change this culture from neph- is purely superficial, rite on a basis of color affecting only a very alone, particularly as thin layer of the surface, many of the carvings in and is due to the action =---- both material have of the weather during been altered in color long periods of time, through having been the iron oxides, which buried. originally colored the ■■•Iii The tendency to stone green or grayish- supplant the geometric

green, having been re- .,._ FIGURINE REPRESENTI NG KWA..'1 YIN, THE GoDDEs formality, character- placed by higher oxides oF M:~~EY~I~~v!~ ~~~~1 D;:~!-~~~i:c~I<~•:AN JADE. istic of early jade carv- 16 AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLET

THE FIVE POISONS An amulet car ved from white jade, represent­ ing a toad, a serpent, a spider, a lizard, and a centipede, the five venomous creatures whose images protect from evil. Whitlock Collection eties through various hades of green, to deep " pinach "-green heavily mottled, and even to the black of chloromelanite. Among the rarer color may be ranked the light ocher yellow of some Burme e jadeite, a blood red, met with in patche in white jadeite, and a till rarer light violet or mauve. A beautiful jadeite from Yunnan province is colored a ing, with a freer and more grace­ mottled, opaque, grass-green, very much ful ornamentation culminated in the highly elaborate carving of the K'ien Lung period (1644-1912), with its undercut relief and open­ work patterns. At this time also the beautiful green jadeite, from the Mogaung district in Upper Burmah, began to be imported into China, and much enriched the materials available for Chinese expression in carved jade. This choicest of the jade varieties i al o the best known to the west­ ern world under the name of "imperial jade." It is never found in large masses, always in relatively small areas dissemin­ ated through white jadeite which fact accounts for the mottled and streaked di tribution of color ob- erved even in some of the finest and most highly prized piece . Aside from the semitran parent apple-green of the iµiperial jade, the colors that characterize this ornamental tone run the gamut of tints from the tran lucent white of "melting now" or the more opaque "mutton fat" vari-

WHITE JADE DISK REPRESE TING THE MOON The white rabbit, symbolizing the Yin principle, is compounding the pills of immortality in a mortar. Drummond Gift Collection JADE 17

handed down through many generations of artists. To those of us who have seen large assemblages of Chinese carved jade a very familiar figure is that of a tall, grace­ ful woman, represented seated or stand­ ing, and holding either a vase or a lotus flower in her hand. She is Kwan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy, one who hears the cry or prayer of the world. According to the beautiful legend of the Chinese Buddhists,

A DRAGON A white jade figurine of a dragon with somewhat lion-like proportions. Whitlock Collection like the color of malachite, but differing from the latter stone in texture. With increased elaboration in the carv­ ing of jade by the Chinese lapidaries there grew up a symbolism involving the sub­ jects depicted in this art. Just as among more primitive people we find glyptic artists depicting gods and heroes, sacred animals and supernatural attributes, so among the Chinese carvers of jade we find myth and legend, philosophic principle and ritualistic symbols used freely and developed with increasing convention­ alization as the forms and patterns were

DRAGON, HIGHLY CONVENTIONALIZED Carved in old jade; of the period of the Chow dynasty. Note the archaic square turns of the body and the birdlike head substituted for a tail. Drummond Gift Collection she was about to become an immortal, but turned back from the very gateway of the Western Paradise, when she heard a cry of anguish rising from earth. So by renunciation she achieved immortality A HOR ED AND WINGED DRAGON in the hearts of the sorrowing throughout Intricately carved belt ornament of white jade. the centuries. Her shrine and her image Note the elaborate pierced carving in the background. Drummond Collection Gift is to be found in every Chinese temple, as 1 AJIERICA J1 E JI G IDE LEAFLET

her prayer i alway on the lip of count­ the nebulou. period that preceded the le mother : " Great mercy, great pity Chow dyna ty there occurred a ave from mi ery ave from evil, broad, tremendou battle of the God in which great, efficaciou , re pon ive Kwan Yin demigod , Buddha , and Immortal , not Buddha. ' to mention fae dragon and other wonder­ ,Vbenever one find ix little men an

very old Taoi t leg­ THE LOT Paradi e. A little end all of the An open carving in white jade bowing the lotus, jade carving, no Eight became im­ one of the "eight auspiciou igns," growing larger than a half from a vase formed from one of its own pod . mortal ancl each Whitlock Collection dollar depict thi may be recognized epi ode with detail by ome article that and fidelity, even to he or he wear or the ingle eye of the · carrie. , as the crutch peacock. and gourd full of Di k of white jade magic medicine of ometime how Li T 'ich-Kuai, or the carved in relief a magic feather fan rabbit tanding on it with which Chung-li hind leg beside a Ch 'uan fans he oul conventionalized tree, of tho e who are to engaged in pounding be immortalized back something in a mor­ into their bodies. tar. The ubject of ome of the Eight thi de ign emanate Immortal are de­ from the legend of picted alone , a Heng O, the wife of Chang-Kuo who i Shen I, the divine hown eated on hi WHITE JADE GIRDLE PE DA TT archer. he ate one Representing a conventionalized dragon marvelou donkey, on the left, and a phcenix on the right. of the pills of immor­ which fold up like a Both embody the Yang or male principle, tality and flew to the and in this de ign upport the di k of the piece of paper when un. Whitlock Collection moon. eized with a not in u e, and hi violent fit of cough­ bundle of magic rod , with which he ing, he pre ently coughed up the coating wrought all manner of necromancy. of the pill she had eaten, which immedi­ Chine e legend relate that long ago in ately became a rabbit a white a pure t JADE 19

jade. Thus wa created the ancestor of ally represented in jade carvings, and the yin, the negative or female principle why they vary so richly and amazingly. of univer al life, who e prototype i the Some are full-bodied like lions, while moon. ome are attenuated, convoluted, and very The e •• ence of the Yang or male prin­ reptilian indeed. Some have branching ciple re ides in the per on of the horn and others are decorated dragon, that mythical animal "'ith manes that are singularly or being endowed by the like human hair. An old hinese mind with su­ Chinese classic ascribes pernatural power nine " resemblances" which are generally to the dragon; its assumed to be ex­ horns are like those erci ed for goo

A GROUP OF "WHEELS OF LIFE" CARVED IN WHITE JADE Two have movable centers and can be rotated by holding the loose central piece between t humb and forefinger. The other one has a swastika for a center. Whitlock Collection 20 A JIERICA JI EU W GUIDE LEAFLET have been handed down to a pair of fi he or from very ancient times, carp, wherea one carp Chine e arti t have often tand for power learned to expre the e or literary eminence. design in highly conven­ hang Tau-ling, who tionalized treatment. may be con idered the In no in tance is this actual founder of mod­ more obviou than in ern Taoi m, i. repre­ the treatment of the sented as riding on a dragon in carved jade. A SYMBOL OF IMMORTALITY tiger under who e paw Highly conventionalized butterfly His inuou body ha carved from white jade are crushed the five taken on angular bends venomous creature : the or perhap more frequently ha divided lizard, nake, pider, toad, and centipede. and branched like a heraldic mantle. Hi ometime the e five are repre ented to­ feet have di appeared, or where present, gether in carved jade in an amulet known the toes sometime pread like the spokes as the "Five Poison . " of a wheel, the claw joining on to each When Buddhi rn wa introduced into other in a circle. China from India Of ten a dragon in the Han dyna ty hold or upports a in the fir t century round object like a of our era, it brought pearl, which really with it a very in­ represents the un, tere ting erie of phototype of the ym bol , known a Yang. the "au piciou Often a ociated ign' ," mo 't of with a dragon in which were aid to design of carved have been tamped jade, i the phoonix, in the footprint of a highly conven­ TWO A SPICIO SYMBOLS Buddha. The e A peach blo som, also symbolic of immortality tionalized bird has been made a part of this butterfly design Buddhi t ymbols which ordinarily were favorite forms ymbolize pro perity. The phoonix, how­ among the lapidarie of the Kien Lung ever, al o tand for pa ionate love and period, and are of ten met with carved in i consequently an appropriate and ym­ white jade of that epoch. One of the mo t bolic love gift. characteri tic of them i the vVheel of Life, Much the arne ymboli m i attached a di k repre ented within a di k, often

THE MY TIC K OT

very popular otf' the wa - Buddhi t ym­ tika in the center bol, carved a a of the clo ed buckle in white loop . Whitlock jade Collection J DE 21 wrought with a very cleverly w have th magic ourd, executed movable center ometime depicted alone about which the whole de­ and omctime accompa- vice may be turned. In thi nied by a monkey. In way we have the o-called the legend of the monkey ' prayer wheel ' dear to that became a god thi the heart of Tibetan famou ourd wa the BuddhL t in who e rever­ prized po e ion of the end finger they revolve, in Demon who oppo ed un a mea ure taking the place of Hou-tzu, the Monkey Fairy, the bead ro ary. The and hi ma ter, and wa ' poke connecting the YMBOL capable of containing a ote the " bat of happine " above thou and people. Sun by two di k may number the " happiness" character ix or eight and the de ign a clever device exchanged of the central movable disk it for a worthle gourd, may r pre ent the wa ti­ which hemadethe Demon ka, or the immortality believe could contain the ymbol, or even the my tic entire univer e. yang yin. Becau e butterflies ym­ Another very popular b o l i z e immortality in au picious sign is the lotu , Chine e, a they do in either represented with it Greek mythology, carvings leave , embellishing other of butterflie were buried de ign , or growing from a with the dead, and no jar or vase, the jar being doubt the beautiful white yet another of the eight jade butterflie of the K'ien treasure of Buddha. Lung period are urvi val _ ymbol much in favor Thi girdle pendant illustrate of a ymbol handed down i that "my tic knot" another variation of the happi­ from Han time. Like mo t ne character urmounted by which is represented a the bat of happiness of the other Chinese carved having no beginning and forms they have become no end. ot only was highly conventional, thi ign one of tho e often with peach blo - found in Buddha' foot­ om and wa tika print, but it is al o aid repre ented on the ex­ to have appeared on the tended wing . brea t of Vi hnu. The In the mid t of the hine e, who love to vVe tern Paradi e on ascribe au piciou mean­ the border of the Lake ing to their ymbols, of Gem is the orchard ometime call it the of immortal peach tree "Knot of Everlasting who e fruit ripen every Happine ." ix thousand year . Returning to the The e celestial peaches Taoi t type of symbol , have the my tic virtue

The implest form of the It i urmounted by the un happine s character disk between dragons 22 AA1ERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLET

WHITE JADE GIRDLE PE DANTS Carved with the luck character. To the left is shown the character unembellished, on the right it occupies the center of the design surrounded by a gourd, a mystic knot, a sun disk, etc. Whitlock Collection of conferring long life, and thus by eating that i to say "Old Age, wealth, health, them the Immortals renew their immor­ love of virtue, and a natural death." tality. That is why the Peach of Immor­ It would probably never occur to any tality i o often carved in jade, and why one but a Chinese to u e the somewhat the immortal peach blossom i such an complex graphic ymbol of the hinese au picious symbol. language in a decorative way. And yet Almost equally au piciou as one of the treated conventionally, a the Chine e magic emblem of Taoi m, i the Fungus treat all of their designs, the e characters of Immortality which was supposed to are capable of developing into balanced grow only on the sacred mountain Hua and well proportioned decorative form . han in the province of Shensi. The con­ One of the oldest a well a one of the torted and involved hape of this miracu­ mo t decorative of these "Sho marks" lous plant lends itself well to the de ign is the character that tand for longevity, of girdle pendant and it wa often carved or to give it a more my tic ignificance, in the white jade of the K'ien Lung period. immortality. The figure on page 14 Not only are the hinese fond of shows the modern Chinese character for au piciou symbol , but they love a rebus, longevity ar.id a serie of its conventional­ or a we would ay, a pun. The Chine e ized variant mo tly derived from jade word for happine i Ju, and the ame carvings. This eem to be a favorite word pronounced a little differently mean ymbol for u e a the movable center of a bat. So a carved bat become a ymbol the "prayer wheel " mentioned a few of happine , and i very generally u ed pages back. either alone or combined with other favor­ Another character very popular with able ymbolic de ign . hould you meet a the carver of girdle pendant in white de ign involving five bat you are to read jade 1 that which ignifie happines . it a meaning the "Five Happine se ," This i , of course, often combined with JADE 23 the happiness bat, as well as with dragon de ign, i the one that signifie luck or and other au piciou symbol . An inter­ good fortune. In the writer experience e, ting variation is the " doubling ' of the it has been u ed either alone, without ymbol by repre enting two happine s decorative embellishment , or in a ome­ character ide by side, adjacent parts what haphazard assemblage of symbols. being connected. Certain designs lend themselves spe­ The jade piece carved with this cially to the smooth, rounded contour "double happiness" are appropriate gift of fingering pieces, such a are dear to for newly married couple , and convey a the hearts of contemplative Cele tial , wish that their union may be a long and who love to ense their cool, delicious felicitou one. feeling through what i to an Occidental A omewhat rare conventionalized char­ the least developed of the enses. Perhaps acter in carved jade, rare because it does if we cultivated a love for jade fingering not lend itself readily to ymmetrical piece we would think more. Who knows?

A L ARGE B UTTON OR ST D CAR \"ED FROM "\VH!TE J ADE WITH A HIG HLY CONVENTION L IZE D .. S WIRLI G" FLO R AL F O RM . I T H E CENTER OF WRICH IS T H E FAMO U " Y IN Y ANG" i\I A RK . WHIT LOCK COLLEC'l"ION