Jade Art Deco Style: An Oriental Treasure from a Western Perspective

It is now known to everyone that jadeite originated in Myanmar and became popular in the Qing Dynasty in China. But how many people know when it entered the Western world, how it developed, and how it quickly became a globally recognized Oriental treasure?

▲Art Deco style jade cigarette case with floral pattern, 1925

When talking about the development of jade in the West, we have to mention one word, that is decorative art.

In 2015, at Sotheby's Hong Kong Autumn Auction, an Art Deco-style jade brooch from Cartier was sold at a sky-high price of HK$7.28 million, setting an auction record for this type of jewelry and becoming one of the highlights of the auction.

This brooch was created in 1927. In the center of the platinum base is a one-inch square full-green jadeite flower petal, on which are carved landscapes, flowers and birds with a garden theme, which is full of oriental classical charm.

In fact , from the late Qing Dynasty to the period of foreign exchange earning after the founding of the People's Republic of China, such jade flower pieces were ubiquitous overseas. Therefore, in addition to the value of the brooch itself, the reason why it set a record for jade flower piece jewelry auction is more because it witnessed the "historical premium" and "artistic premium" of the change of style.

▲ Boucheron Art Deco brooch, 1920s

Art Nouveau jewelry in the early 20th century was characterized by its ability to integrate classical and exotic decorative elements and its advocacy of freedom and nature . Later, artists refined and extracted the specific images that appeared briefly in the jewelry and interspersed them with oriental style.

In the 1920s, the prototype of Art Deco style began to emerge. This style of jewelry often features groups of geometric shapes, with clean and cool lines, and a large number of oriental techniques and elements are used.

▲ Jadeite flower brooch 1913

In 1925, after the Paris World Expo, the Art Deco aesthetic spread to every corner of the world; this period was the "Jazz Age" when social productivity increased significantly and people indulged in pleasure and indulgence.

Coincidentally, more than half of the jadeite flower jewelry sold at major auction houses have a typical Art Deco style, and most of these jewelry were designed and customized by Western celebrities and nobles at the time who sent the main stones to major workshops. This shows that jadeite is not only sought after and loved by Oriental people.

The green stones from the Far East became popular because they depicted the Western upper class's imagination of a wealthy life in foreign countries through the flower and bird gardens carved on them. At the same time, with the decline of the Qing Dynasty, countless secret treasures in the inner palace were sold, including a series of high-quality jade ornaments.

Barbara Hutton was undoubtedly one of the most loyal fans of these Qing Dynasty treasures. Her most famous jadeite necklace was designed by Cartier in the early 1930s. The ruby ​​and diamond clasp and the matching jadeite ring are both very Art Deco in style .

It is said that the necklace is made of a relic from the imperial court of the late Qing Dynasty that traveled across the ocean. It has been re-polished and redesigned, and given new life by adding a modern Art Deco-style ruby-encrusted diamond clasp, giving it an overall refined and elegant demeanor.

After many years, the finale of the 2019 Poly Hong Kong Spring Auction was a set of "old pit" jade bead necklaces also designed and processed by Cartier. In the details, the highly recognizable Art Deco style elements are decorated with not only diamonds but also vermilion corals. This color collision full of oriental charm was the most popular aesthetic configuration at the time.

Western countries expressed their fascination with oriental classical style by adding modern structures to this lustrous green stone, and oriental jade collectors of the same period also contributed to this trend.

The most famous among them is Huang Huilan, the second daughter of the Indonesian overseas Chinese tycoon "Sugar King" Huang Zhonghan. She is known as "the most beautiful pearl in the Far East" by the public . Influenced by her father, she is very keen on collecting jade jewelry.

However, unlike her father who preferred traditional aesthetics , Huang Huilan, who had been immersed in the Western art atmosphere for many years, was more accustomed to handing over her collection of Qing Dynasty jadeite to Cartier, re-endowing it with an aesthetic core with a modern industrial flavor - decorative art.

▲ Art Deco jadeite jewellery and jadeite snuff bottles from Huang Huilan’s collection

Cartier’s unique creative perspective and exquisite craftsmanship made Huang Huilan very satisfied. However, there was only one time when Cartier rejected Huang Huilan’s order. That was the legendary emerald green pepper that Huang Huilan mentioned in her memoir All Good Things Must End written in her later years. (Related reading: The most legendary jadeite in history is said to have been carved by Emperor Qianlong for Concubine Xiang. Does it really exist?)

Prominent ladies of noble family like Huang Huilan were not satisfied with merely inlaying delicate and graceful jade petals on brooches or pendants that could be worn daily. They desired that dressing boxes, handbags and even cigarette cases be filled with the beauty of spring. It is unknown who placed the first such order, but since then, major old-fashioned jewelry workshops have followed suit, using the dignified and conservative Oriental Green to once again light up the party spirit of the Jazz Age.

With the global economic depression in the 1940s, the Jazz Age that advocated freedom and enjoyment almost disappeared, until the booming liberation movement and disco created a new aesthetic situation with a hundred flowers blooming. The Art Deco style has also been rediscovered by knowledgeable people, injecting classic genes into jade jewelry works from a more personalized perspective.

The same jadeite. We are used to seeing hairpins, rings, pendants, landscapes and figures from an oriental perspective. But when we look at the jadeite jewelry made from a western art perspective, although the styles are very different, they are also distinctive and refreshing. With the exchange and collision of Eastern and Western cultures, the future jade styles will undoubtedly be more diverse and colorful, which makes people look forward to it.

More Art Deco jade jewellery

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