Where do jadeite get its rich and colorful colors?

Jade is a fibrous aggregate composed of pyroxene minerals, mainly jadeite minerals. It is a stone polycrystalline aggregate that reaches jade grade under geological action.

Jade is mainly composed of jadeite or jadeite and sodium (sodium chrome pyroxene) and sodium calcium pyroxene (diopside). Some jade also contains minerals such as amphibole, feldspar, chromite, limonite, etc.

Due to the different mineral elements it contains, the color of jade is also different, such as: white (colorless), green, purple, black, red, yellow, etc.

There are many factors that cause the color of jade, and different colors are composed of different coloring ions.

01

White (colorless)

Pure jadeite jade is white, contains sodium aluminum silicate, and does not contain pigment ions, so its raw stone appears white or nearly colorless.

The output of white jade is large, but most of it is not very valuable. However, the price of jadeite of glutinous ice grade and above is very high, especially the colorless jadeite of glass grade, which is very expensive.

Although this kind of jade is almost colorless, it has a delicate texture and is as transparent as water. With its luster, it gives people a feeling of extraordinary elegance. It is also a collection-level jade that is one in a million.

02

green

Green is a common color in jade, which is what we usually call "emerald".

Green emerald color. It is mainly the result of chromium (Cr3+) ions replacing aluminum ions (Al3+) in jadeite minerals. The content of Cr and Fe will directly affect the depth of green. The higher the chromium (Cr3+) ion content, the deeper the green of the jadeite.

If it contains too much chromium, it will easily form dry green jadeite. Although dry green jadeite has a rich color, it is very dry and lacks spiritual energy, so its price is relatively low.

03

Purple

Purple jade, also known as violet jade, is called "spring" by people in the industry.

Violet jade has various shades of purple, including pink purple, blue purple and eggplant purple.

There are different opinions on the market about the formation of the purple color of violet jadeite.

One view is that the purple color of jade is caused by electron transition between Fe2+ (divalent iron) and Fe3+ (trivalent iron).

Another theory is that Mn (manganese ion) causes coloring, giving the jadeite raw stone its purple color.

04

black

Black jade is a relatively rare variety. In the jade market, there are many black jade products, and black jade is one of the main products.

Because black is the most advanced color in Chinese culture and the favorite color of the ancient royal family besides yellow and purple, people believe that the black jadeite with green inside has a strong effect of warding off evil spirits and eliminating disasters, and is often used as a protective ornament.

There are generally two types of black in jadeite.

One reason is that there is too much chromium in the jadeite mineral, until the composition becomes omphacite, forming omphacite jadeite. When exposed to strong light, the stone appears green.

The other is that black jadeite is formed because the jadeite mine contains a large amount of silky black minerals. This color is secondary.

This kind of black jade does not show green when exposed to light.

05

Red, yellow

The red and yellow colors in jade are called jadeite. Different from green and purple jade, red and yellow are secondary colors formed when jade is exposed to the surface after mineralization and is infiltrated by iron elements.

Both yellow jadeite and red jadeite are most valuable when they are pure red or yellow.

If a little bit of iron metal element is mixed into jade, it will be stained by limonite to form "yellow fog", which will form gold-sprinkled jade.

Gold sprinkled jade looks like it is rusted, which is actually a layer of yellow jade on the surface of the jade. This layer of yellow jade is distributed in dots, clumps, or flakes in an orderly manner.

The dots on the gold sprinkled jade are just like a layer of gold powder sprinkled on the surface of the jade.

Some people like it, some people mind it and think that gold sprinkling is a flaw of jadeite.

The beautiful gold-sprinkled jadeite is a rare kind of jadeite. The value of gold-sprinkled jadeite, besides its quality, most importantly depends on the distribution of this layer of "gold".

If the gold is evenly distributed and beautifully shaped, and then carved with colorful patterns, the jade will be even better. Such gold-sprinkled jade can double its value and will be very popular.

There are common selection principles for jadeite of different colors. First, we need to look at the quality of the jade.

If the water quality is good, the color of the jade will appear watery and vibrant.

If the quality of the jade is poor, it will appear rigid and lifeless. Even if it has bright colors, its value will not be very high.

In addition, the thickness of jade and the viewer's psychology will also affect the quality of jade.

If the jade product is thin, its water quality will appear fuller and the color will be clearer.

If the viewer looks at jade with prejudice, then no matter how dazzling the color of the jade product is, as long as the viewer does not like it, he will always find fault with it.

From this we can see that the color of natural jade is really magical.

When we buy jade, we can't just look at the color of the jade, but also the quality and craftsmanship of the jade.