Black Chicken, a dark horse in the jade world

Black was originally a dirty color for jade, so its value has been relatively low for many years.

However, with the advancement of jade carving culture and aesthetics, some jade carvers have discovered in their actual work that due to its unevenness, black jade can be combined with the water quality to produce a unique Chinese ink painting artistic conception in carving. It can also be used as a kind of color for carving masters to use, and the subject matter is very unique.

Black chicken jade

The formation of jade

"Black Chicken" jadeite rough stone is also called "incense ash bottom". It not only includes a black base sheet, but also grayish white and grayish black colors.

The common point is that the black color is not caused by the main mineral component jadeite, but by some tiny black impurity inclusions.

Black jade is actually black dot-like inclusions distributed along the crystal interior, crystal voids and cracks of jadeite jadeite mineral aggregates, and some are rare and some are dense.

When black spots appear in large quantities, they will absorb light significantly, and the jade will appear black.

When the black substance appears only in a small amount and locally, it only absorbs part of the light. The color of the jade appears grayish white or grayish black, which is what we call "incense ash ground" jade.

If the black dot-like substance is distributed in only a very small amount of scattered dots, it becomes a small amount of impurities in the jade, which is what we often call the black dot-like "fly poop" in the jade. This black defect is what experts least want to see.

Incense gray and black are both made of the same substance, but the difference in the amount of black content creates the two colors.

“Incense Ash Land” Jade ▲

Black Chicken Jade

The difference from black jade

Some people say that black jade looks black, so it is also called "black jade".

In fact, "black jadeite" and "black jadeite" are not the same thing. Although they look extremely similar in appearance, when observed under transmitted light, black jadeite appears green and black jadeite is black.

At the same time, the two are completely different in material composition.

The main component of jadeite is sodium chrome pyroxene. Sodium chrome pyroxene itself is green. However, because the color of the sodium chrome pyroxene in black jade is too dark and appears black, it is called black jade.

The mineral composition of black-chicken jade is as follows:

Microscopic identification of rocks, rose crystal X-ray diffraction, electron probe analysis and laser Raman microprobe analysis indicate that black jade is basically a monomineral rock, and black chicken jade is almost composed of jadeite rock.

The jadeite content is over 98%, with only a small amount of accessory minerals and black carbon. The latter is less than 2% in total and appears higher in some areas. The mineral particles are short columnar and granular, and the rock has a granular metamorphic structure.

With the development of the market, there are many black jade pendants with fine carvings and delicate base materials on the market, and this type of pendant is gaining favor among more and more people.

However, black chicken jade is still relatively rare in the market, especially black chicken jade pendants with good water quality.

Quality Assessment of Black Chicken Breed

Note the following points

1 Color

The darker the color of black jadeite, the better. The pure black of black chicken jadeite will also appear brighter.

At the same time, the color distribution should be relatively uniform and consistent overall, rather than appearing patchy or irregular white lumps.

Modern jade carving designers also often use the changes in the color depth of black jade to design and carve some exquisite black jade carvings.

2. Texture

The texture of better black jade should be above the glutinous grade, with fine, uniform and delicate crystals.

High-grade black jadeite needs to reach the ice grade.

Black jade with poor texture is mainly coarse beans, with strong crystal granularity and loose structure.

3 Water head

Black jade with good water head is relatively transparent and light can penetrate through it.

Medium and low-grade black jade has poor water content and is opaque, allowing light to not penetrate it.

4Cultural themes

The subject matter of good black jade works should be consistent with its essential characteristics, and the themes often reflected are often people or objects with black as the theme in traditional culture.

Such as Zhong Kui, Zhang Fei, and Feilong in legends, the Four Vajra in Buddhism, and some black and gray-black objects that reflect modern daily life.

In the picture below, the composition of the pipe and Zen reminds people of the long-lasting chirping of summer Zen.

The scene when a stream of green smoke rises straight up from the pipe is truly "the sound never stops, and you will be promoted rapidly", which is a good wish for a prosperous and everlasting business and a bright and successful career.

5. Crafts

Jade carving technology is an intuitive expression of jade culture, and good technology can play a role in cultural inheritance.

For example, the “Live Prawns” (pictured below) cleverly uses the gray-black color of black chicken jade to reflect the true color of live shrimps, and the delicate texture reflects the oily texture of the shrimps.

The craftsmanship is quite exquisite, and the feet, eyes, antennae and shells of the live shrimps are portrayed clearly and vividly, making them look lifelike.

6 Defects

The black color of black jade is caused by the black impurity inclusions it contains. The black impurities appear densely and evenly distributed, and the color is relatively pure.

When black impurities are relatively sparse and distributed in dot-like forms, these black spots become dirty spots in the jade - "fly poop", which are defects.

In addition, it is necessary to pay attention to whether there are cracks, cotton strands and other defects in the black jade.

If there is less black color, it is not a pure black chicken breed and it will become fly shit▲

In the colorful jade family, black jade is only a small part.

In the past rough material transactions in Myanmar, most of the black jade appeared in the form of coarse beans with rough texture and poor water quality, which were relatively low-grade jade. It was also common for some black jade rough materials to be directly abandoned as waste after being untied.

Therefore, for a long time, black jade has not been valued by people and its value has been in a low state.

However, as people's understanding of jade continues to improve, the characteristics and qualities of various jade varieties are constantly being discovered.

Some black chicken jade works with pure black color, fine texture, good water quality, novel themes and delicate carvings have gradually occupied a place in the jade market, becoming a "dark horse" in the jade family and one of the targets that jade lovers are competing to pursue and collect.

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