Is machine-carved jade definitely cheaper than hand-carved jade?

When many friends buy finished jade products, they will ask whether it is machine carved. In the habitual thinking of many people, they think that any jade that is carved by machine is cheap, and any jade that is carved by machine is bad material. So is machine-carved jade definitely worse than hand-carved jade?

In the minds of many friends, machine carving is to press the jade directly out with a machine, while hand carving is to carve the jade out with hands and tools. We also often say that generally ordinary materials are usually machine carved, while better materials are hand carved. Because machine carving is set up and the model is unified, it would be a waste to use machine carving for good materials. Good materials are usually designed by the master, and then different finished products are slowly carved out.

It is true that many jadeites on the market that cost dozens or one or two hundred yuan are usually machine carved. For example, those very common Buddhas and Guanyin statues, or those cheap brands, are all machine-carved. But just to say that machine carving is definitely worse than hand carving is a bit absolute.

I had the same thought when I didn’t know much about jadeite. Later I found that nothing can be too absolute. Although many of the cheap jades we see are machine carved. But this does not mean that machine-carved jade is necessarily worse than hand-carved ones. In fact, with the development of science and technology today, many of the exquisite jade products we see are made by combining hand carving and machine carving.

I told my friends this, although we all say that hand carving is better than machine carving. However, hand carving itself also relies on one’s ability. If his skills are not good, the things he carves may not be better looking than those carved by machine. In fact, many times, machines are better at controlling the level of detail than humans.

Just like some amazing surgeries or scientific experiments, we cannot complete them entirely by our own hands, but need to cooperate with those precise instruments to finally complete those surgeries or experiments that will fail if they are off by a millimeter. This principle can also be applied to the machine carving and hand carving of jade. In fact, many jade craftsmanship today are different from what we imagined. Strictly speaking, many finished jade products have more or less involvement of organic carving.

We buy jade simply because we think it looks good. It is simply because this jade gives us a sense of beauty and it pleases our eyes. It’s just like when girls go shopping for clothes. If we really like a piece of clothing, would you really care whether it is hand-sewn or made in a factory?

As long as the workmanship is good and there are no quality issues, would you insist on having a hand-sewn piece of clothing? So, the same goes for jadeite. As long as we find the jadeite pleasing to our eyes, we like the quality of the jadeite and we can accept its flaws, is it really that important whether it is machine-carved or hand-carved?