Why is there a "hole" on the back of a good piece of jade? Almost every Buddha statue is like this.

As the saying goes, hide gold in troubled times and hide jade in prosperous times.

With the improvement of living standards, jade has gradually entered thousands of households. When a jade pendant is hung on the chest, many people don’t understand one question - why is there an arc-shaped concave pit carved on the back of the jade pendant?

Some people even suspected that the sculptor took a piece and kept it for himself.

It has to be said that similar situations occur behind many jade pendants. Among them, Buddha and Guanyin are the most representative.

Careful people will also find that these carved depressions are not a unified requirement of the craftsmanship. Because some depressions have a large area ratio, some are small; some depressions are very deep, while others are relatively shallow.

Some people just don’t understand why such a good piece of jade needs to be “operated” on behind the back? Isn't this just adding to the workload?

In fact, people in the industry understand this very well. This "digging" technique is actually a test for the sculptor.

If this "pit" is dug well, it will make the jade more translucent and moist, and its value will increase. If the "digging" is not done well, the entire work will lose its luster and its value will decrease.

In the industry, this "digging pit" technology is called "water diversion." As the name suggests, it means to adjust the water head.

Everyone knows that the most critical factor that determines the value of jade is its "water quality". In other words, the quality of the jade is determined before it is carved. How can the water head be adjusted by "digging a hole"?

It is undeniable that even glass-type jadeite will be diminished when light passes through it. In other words, the thinner the jade is, the higher its light transmittance and the better its water content appears.

Therefore, one of the reasons for "digging a pit" is to make the jade thinner and increase its translucency.

Is it true that the deeper the pit, the better?

Not really, because the quality of each piece of jade is different, and the transmittance and refractive index are also different. Therefore, how to adjust the water content and make the light refract inside the jade, so that the whole piece of work is more spiritual, is a great test for the sculptor.

Some people may ask, do all jade pendants need to be adjusted with water?

Not really. Some works do not need to adjust the water quality due to their water quality and design reasons. There are also some pendants with top-level water quality that do not need to be adjusted in order to show their domineering, willful, and colorful water quality no matter how they are carved.

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