These jade jewellery are not only beautiful

In ancient times, jade was mostly used for carving various furnishings and utensils. With the development of the times, people's demand for beautifying their lives has become stronger and stronger, and their requirements for beauty have become more and more innovative. Ancient jade rings, crown ornaments, etc. gradually evolved into saddle rings inlaid with precious metals and various other jade jewelry.

Jade ring

The jade thumb ring has a very early origin. A practical thumb ring in the shape of an oblique tube was unearthed in the tomb of Fu Hao of the Shang Dynasty. During the Warring States Period and the Han Dynasty, the thumb ring had evolved into a chicken heart pendant, which was also called "jade ring" based on its use, meaning it was used for archery. This kind of chicken heart pendant almost disappeared after the Eastern Han Dynasty, but imitations appeared during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Jadeite Ring

Glutinous ice type clear water slightly floating violet Fu Lu Shou ring

Jade thumb rings were very popular among the Manchu nobles. The jade thumb rings made by the Palace Workshop were very exquisite. The outer edges of the thumb rings were often carved into relief patterns, such as hunting pictures, phoenixes facing the sun, and butterflies. Some were carved with words such as "Son of the Seventies" and "Long Live the Emperor". Some were also carved with poems, landscape paintings and other patterns. There were also thumb rings made of various different materials that were used in sets. There are many jade rings among the people, made of different materials, including agate, jadeite, coral, crystal, amber, etc., most of which are straight and plain. In the Qing Dynasty, many thumb rings were no longer special practical tools. They were generally worn on the thumb as ornaments. However, there was not much difference between ornamental thumb rings and practical thumb rings. Later it gradually evolved into a jade saddle ring for men.

Nowadays, jade rings no longer use the smooth sleeve style. Although traditional jade rings are beautiful in style and have practical value, they consume too many raw materials. On the one hand, it is difficult to make high-quality jade rings. On the other hand, even if there is a jade ring of this style, its price must be incredibly high. Although it can be sold at an auction, it is difficult for ordinary people to afford it. Therefore, the traditional jade ring has appeared in two new styles in today's society. One type is a ring that is entirely carved from jadeite. The entire ring is plain and has no patterns. The ring head is bright green, and the two ends sometimes extend beyond the ring a little, making the ring appear larger and more beautiful. There is also a method of changing the ring head into an animal head. This allows for the use of a large amount of raw materials with few cracks or cotton, thereby reducing the production cost of the jade ring. However, it should also be noted that this style of ring is the most suitable candidate material for making B-grade jadeite due to the inherent micro-cracks in the raw materials. Therefore, when you see this kind of animal head ring when collecting it, you must take a closer look at it.

Jade Saddle Ring

Jade saddle rings are generally men's styles. They are made of 18K gold or other precious metals inlaid with a long double-sided jade ring face. They are ideal jewelry for men with elegant tastes. The reason why it is called the Jade Saddle Ring is that the entire ring looks like a jade ring, but the ring is made of precious metal. This kind of jade saddle ring was widely popular in inland my country in the 1980s and 1990s. As the jewelry industry had just started in China at that time, people did not have many varieties of gemstones to choose from, so jade naturally became the focus of people's attention. Because high-quality jade raw materials are extremely scarce, only the best large grains can be selected from the ring face to make long strips, and then matched with 18K gold (mostly changed to 18K white gold inlay in the late 1990s). Naturally, jade saddle rings have become the new favorite jewelry of that era. It should be pointed out that jade is the king of jade and the main representative jade variety of oriental jade culture. Therefore, jade saddle rings are seldom inlaid with too many gems representing Western gem culture - diamonds, otherwise it will always make people feel a little out of place. With the advancement of the times and the popularization of Western gem culture in the hearts of Chinese people, various modern jade jewelry has been widely used in the "jade + gem" model inlaid with precious metals. For example, the modern version of jadeite gold inlaid jade pendant mentioned earlier belongs to this model.

Jade hair accessories and other jade ornaments

A cup of clean water becomes dirty when a drop of dirty water is added, but a cup of dirty water will not become clear because of the presence of a drop of clean water.

The main jade hair accessories include hairpins, hair crowns, hairpins, combs, etc. Jade hair accessories have been made since the Neolithic Age and were very popular in the Tang Dynasty.

During the Neolithic Age, an exquisite jade hairpin with mortise and tenon joints was discovered in Shandong Longshan Culture. A jade comb was unearthed from the tomb of Fu Hao of the Shang Dynasty. The flat "handle-shaped device" popular in the Shang and Zhou dynasties was a hairpin used for tying hair. Some scholars now call it a "qin plectrum". The wide-handled hairpins after the Tang and Song dynasties are almost the same in shape and should be the jade hairpins of the time.

In ancient China, men often used hair crowns to tie up their hair, and the jade hair crown came into being. In addition, the grade and style of hair crowns were stipulated for all officials from the emperor down. It was recorded in "Zhangfuzhi": "The emperor of the Han Dynasty had a jade crown with nine beams, the princes had eight beams, the marquises, the prince consorts and the first-rank officials had a jade crown with seven beams, the second-rank officials had six beams, the third-rank gold crown or blue jade crown had five beams, the fourth- and fifth-rank rhinoceros horn and ivory crowns had three beams, and the sixth- and seventh-rank bronze crowns had two beams." It can be seen that the jade crown was a symbol of status in feudal society.

The hairpin is also called "ji". "Shuowen Jiezi" says: "ji is a hairpin." It is an ornament used by ancient people to pin their hair and wear as a crown. There were many varieties of jade hairpin patterns in the Tang Dynasty, and the main form was sheet-like carved patterns. There were independent jade hairpins carved from whole pieces of jade, and there were also jade hairpin heads inlaid with gold and silver rods. The most common pattern of these jade hairpin heads was sheet-like carved floral patterns, including lotus, chrysanthemum, cruciferous plants, etc. The most common bird patterns were peacocks and phoenixes. This type of lily hairpin has beautiful patterns, with rough, simple and plain lines, and has very typical pattern features.

Jade hairpins have been commonly decorated on the head since the Han Dynasty, while the body of the hairpin is still mainly plain cylindrical. There were not many jade hairpins in the Song Dynasty, and their shapes did not change much. The carvings on jade hairpins became more exquisite, with larger proportions of patterns on the head, and most of them were carved in the shapes of birds, beasts, flowers and plants. And this style has continued to this day.

Jade Hairpin

Qing Dynasty Ice Jade Lotus Leaf Hairpin

Jade hairpins are a developed form of the ancient jade hairpin. Modern people rarely use traditional hairpins, so jade hairpins have gradually lost their practical functions and have become a form of display, play and collection. Jade hairpins are often carved from raw materials that are of very good quality but not necessarily colorful. Good water quality means good texture. Hairpins need to be made into slender shapes. Imagine if the texture of the raw materials is very poor, the issue of appearance is secondary, and the issue of sturdiness will be the first priority. Once cracks appear in the raw material, it is likely to break during carving, without having to wait until it is worn or played with. Therefore, the quality of the raw materials of the jade hairpin must be ensured first. Furthermore, if the jade hairpin can reach the glutinous or icy grade, then the crystal clear, warm and moist texture of the jade will undoubtedly be revealed on the small and exquisite hairpin.

Of course, a hairpin is just a hairpin after all. In ancient times, it was a practical household utensil. Now it is more classified as a plaything, not a high-end utensil. Therefore, there is no need to use the best glass-type jade to carve a hairpin, and there is no question of full green jade.

Jadeite Brooch

Ice-type clear water inlaid rose gold butterfly brooch

Ancient Chinese women often wore buyao (bu shao) in the side of their hair as a decoration. It is a metal needle-shaped system with jade pendants and jade flower ornaments, which are inserted in the hair for decoration. It also serves to fix the hair in place. It is a common hair accessory among Chinese women since the Han Dynasty. Most of the people who wear buyao in their hairpins are women of noble status. Because the materials used for buyao are noble, the workmanship is exquisite, and the shape is beautiful, it is not something that ordinary women can wear. The production process of buyao is complicated, which can fully reflect the level of gold and silver jewelry processing and production during this period. At the same time, we can also infer the ideal image of women at that time.

"Shi Ming" says: "Bu Yao has hanging beads on it, which shake when you take steps." Mr. Zhou Xibao, a famous expert on clothing history, believes that the buyao is made of gold, intertwined like cassia branches, with beads hanging down, and surrounded by various animal shapes and jade as flowers. However, Chen Xiangdao believed that the buyao of the Han Dynasty was made of gold with a phoenix, an owl below, a hairpin in front, and decorated with colorful jades hanging down, which swayed when walking. Because there are hanging beads on the buyao, and it is decorated with jadeite, gold and jade, it further enhances the beauty of the dynamic walking.

Modern women no longer use buyao as headwear or hair accessories. Instead, they use more earrings, ear laces and other Western-style jewellery to beautify themselves. The similarities between buyao and buyao are that they "shake with every step". In addition, jade brooches, corsages and other chest ornaments are also commonly used. These brooches are often made of top-grade small-grain jade. Because of this, the styles of jade brooches are diverse and varied, and they are able to draw on the design style and inlay craftsmanship of Western jewelry, thus achieving a combination of Eastern and Western jade jewelry.

Note: In ancient times, yellow or green jade was often called emerald jade, but this is not a synonym for jadeite. In fact, this is a very informal name. According to the definition of contemporary gemology, the word "jadeite" should not appear. When collecting jade, you should be careful that the word "jadeite" may be a confusing concept deliberately used by unscrupulous merchants to sell low- and medium-grade jade as jadeite.

Jade Comb

Waxy ice type clear water brown and yellow jadeite comb

Combs are a necessity in people's daily lives, and a comb made of jade is probably the most luxurious. In fact, putting aside the price factor, combs made of jade such as jade are indeed beneficial in the process of combing hair, but the process of carving a comb using jade as raw material is very arduous and exciting, because the whole process is quite risky. The material selection characteristics of the jade comb are very similar to those of the jade hairpin mentioned above, but its workmanship is much more difficult than that of the hairpin. The comb itself has many teeth, which requires that the raw material must be free of any cracks. Even a small crack can have the harmful effect of destroying a thousand-mile dam. Once a tooth breaks, all the previous efforts will be wasted. The best tools must be used during the carving process. Otherwise, if the tool breaks or falls off the carving machine during the carving process, the high-speed rotating tool will easily knock off the comb teeth, causing the product to be scrapped. Therefore, the value of jade combs is much higher than other jade ornaments, and collectors must pay attention when collecting them.

Combs are daily necessities used by both men and women, so either a dragon or a phoenix can be carved on the back of a comb, the so-called "dragon and phoenix comb", which embodies the combination of yin and yang, and is used to wish the user a happy marriage. But in real life, women use combs much more frequently than men, so the back of the comb is more often carved with phoenix or double phoenix patterns, the so-called "Phoenix Comb".

Jade headdress

Jade Dragon Hairpin, Ice Type, Light Green [Auspicious Dragon] Jade Hairpin

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, jade headdresses were almost the most common type of jade artifacts. A large number of Qing Dynasty hairpins discovered so far show the prosperity of jade headdresses in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. There are two main types of jade hairpins in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. One is a wide flat strip with one end rolled up, and the other is a cylindrical cone. There are also many other shapes, such as rope pattern and flower pattern. Wide, flat jade hairpins are often carved with floral patterns, animals, melons and fruits, etc. Some gold and silver hairpins are often inlaid with jade ornaments with patterns of flowers, birds, fruits, etc. at one end. The jade headdresses of this period were small and exquisitely carved, and most of them were engraved with auspicious words such as "flying together with wings", "long life", and "wealth and honor in the jade hall". The crowns and buns of the Ming people often had ornaments in the front. The court crown depicted in "The Great Ming Code" had ornaments in the front center. The anonymous Ming Dynasty work "Winter Scene with a Peddler" depicts the late winter and early spring, with a peddler carrying his load into a private courtyard. A woman brought her child to inquire about goods. The woman's headdress was very heavy, with a half-embossed flower-shaped ornament in the middle of the front, no longer than six or seven centimeters. It can be seen that using jade flower pieces to decorate the forehead should be a popular decoration in the Ming Dynasty. Jade headdresses in the Ming and Qing dynasties were mostly made of white jade and bluish-white jade, and were also finely crafted.

Due to the accelerated pace of modern life and people's new aesthetic views, most modern women adopt short hair or shoulder-length hair styles. The ancient way of bunting hair has basically disappeared, and can only be seen occasionally in wedding photography when dressed in Tang suits. Therefore, the ancient jade headdresses are basically impossible to produce.

Jade belt ornament

Ming and Qing Dynasty Hetian jade old jade fine auspicious beast jade belt hook

Belt accessories refer to jade belt hooks, jade belt buckles, jade belt plates and other jade used for belts.

Belt hooks have appeared in the Neolithic period. They are tools used by ancient people to fasten belts. They are flat and long in shape with one end bent and used to hook belt buckles. Copper belt hooks are the most common. Belt buckles only appeared in the Han Dynasty. Their basic shape is composed of two rectangular jade pieces of similar size put together as a pair. They are shaped like belt hooks, but are wider and shorter, with a hook head and a buckle at one end for buckling with the hook head. There are round buttons at the bottom that can be embedded in the two ends of the ribbon. The hook is often decorated with various patterns and belt plates, including belt ting1 and belt tail, which are jade ornaments inlaid on a straw belt. Although it is tied around the waist, it is a symbol of the ancient rulers' power and position, and is one of the important contents of the ancient etiquette.

The jade belt system originated in the Tang Dynasty and was perfected in the Ming Dynasty. Among all the belt ornaments, the jade belt plates are the most exquisitely made. In the Tang Dynasty, the number of jade belt plates determined the rank of an official, and the one with thirteen jade belt plates was the emperor's belt. The decoration is the image of Hu people. The jade belt system of the Song Dynasty was inherited from the Tang Dynasty and the patterns were mostly floral. The Ming Dynasty respected the ancient system and made new regulations on the jade belt system. According to the "History of Ming Dynasty", only the emperor, the first rank, duke, marquis, earl, the prince consort or those specially granted by the emperor could use jade belts. The pattern is first made into a background, and then the theme pattern is processed. In the Qing Dynasty, the belly ornaments were changed and the jade belt was abolished, so the jade belt was no longer reproduced.

Jade belt hook

First-class old pit jadeite belt hook

Jade belt hooks are common pendants in the jade market in recent years. Their carved shape adopts the style of ancient jade belt hooks, but they have completely lost the function of ancient jade belt hooks. So strictly speaking, modern jade belt hooks can only be regarded as pendants for wearing and playing, and cannot be called belt ornaments or belt hooks.

The material selection for jade belt hooks is the same as the jade hairpins and jade combs mentioned above. Glutinous or icy raw materials are used as much as possible. However, the difference from the former two is that the jade belt hook is just an ordinary pendant. When carving, it imitates the shape of ancient jade belt hooks, and the commonly used hollow carving technique is also used. In addition, the jade belt hooks are also carved with decorative patterns, so the requirements for the texture of the raw materials are much more relaxed. For example, some materials with cracks or cotton are avoided or removed as much as possible during the process of carving belt hooks, leaving only materials with good texture. This special technique is called "avoiding cracks" and "pressing cotton" in the jade carving industry. In fact, the raw materials for jade belt hooks are mostly scraps from making jade bracelets, jade ornaments, etc. There are almost no ones that use the best raw materials to directly make belt hooks creatively.

The protagonists of the patterns and designs engraved on jade belt hooks are mostly Chi, which expresses people's beautiful vision of a happy life through the cute shape of this mythical beast with a triangular head and forked tail in traditional Chinese culture. There is also a theme called "Wishing My Son to Become a Dragon", which often appears on jade belt hooks. The hook head is a large dragon head image, and the belt body is deeply embossed with a small Chi looking up at the dragon head. The name "Wishing My Son to Become a Dragon" is taken from the mythological meaning of "The Chi is a dragon son who has not yet become a dragon". The shape is lively and vivid, and the meaning is in line with Chinese tradition and very beautiful. It has become a jade cultural factor that collectors must consider when collecting jade belt hooks.

Hidden in the Wind

When collecting jade jewelry, one must examine the quality of its texture and the brightness of its color, which is the so-called first virtue and second symbol. The second thing is to examine the profound jade culture of its carving shape. Even if the texture of the jade is average, if the ornaments are finely crafted and carved with profound meaning, they can still be considered as precious collections.

Normally, if the jade material is of top quality, there will not be too many carvings and patterns on it. This is not to save the cost of carving, but to preserve the original raw materials as much as possible and avoid damaging the materials as much as possible. The carving that must be used is at best a shallow relief technique to make some simple patterns on the surface of the raw materials. The raw materials that can achieve the level of carving with every possible effort are often top-grade. Although not as rare and precious as the best, they can also be said to be unique. The carving of these raw materials is very important. In addition, according to the unwritten rule in the jade carving industry that good materials must be matched with good workmanship, the carved products are naturally also good collectibles. At this time, the shape and characteristics of this jade product become particularly important, and also determine its ultimate value and fate of being collected.

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