How to judge the material and design of jade pendants? The metaphor of life will help you learn to appreciate the carving of jade

A friend once asked me how to judge the quality of a jade carving? I have been organizing information recently. Today, I would like to talk about jade carving with my friends from a professional perspective and in plain language.

In fact, the carving process of jadeite is not as simple as people think. A friend who didn’t know enough once said that a finished jade product is nothing more than drawing a picture on a computer, throwing the raw materials into the machine, and then waiting for the finished product to come out. Obviously, these friends think that the production of jade jewelry is similar to the finished products on a production line.

Although, to a certain extent, some lower-end jade jewelry is indeed mostly machine-carved, and does resemble a production line. But in fact, the carving process of good jadeite jade products is still very sophisticated. It is generally divided into six processes: material inspection, design, carving, polishing, cleaning, waxing and oiling, and decoration. The first four are the main stages, and the last two are post-processing stages.

Today I will mainly talk to you about the first two processes, material inspection and design. In fact, after getting the raw materials, the sculptors will not start drawing on them immediately. Instead, they will first study the characteristics of the materials, figure out the properties of the materials, and try to maximize the advantages of the materials. This includes considering all factors such as material defects, hardness, transparency, color, etc.

I once saw a carving master holding a piece of material and thinking about it for a month but still not starting. Therefore, it can be seen that a good piece of jade is truly the result of the careful consideration of the craftsmen. Let me also say this here: this is why we often hear that the carving is more expensive than the material, and why jade items with good carving are much more expensive. It is really because good carving requires a lot of effort.

After the first step of material review is completed, the second step of design comes. In fact, design can be said to be an integral part of the entire jade production process, from the initial shape design to the subsequent processing and fine-tuning, all of which are based on design. However, there are too many things to elaborate on. Here I will summarize some practical points for my friends. Generally speaking, the design should achieve the following points:

First of all, the materials must be clean, which means removing dirt and covering cracks. In layman's terms, this means that the finished product must not have serious dirt or cracks. Just like when we peel potatoes for cooking, we have to at least remove the skin and any bad, inedible parts.

Then, the materials used are reasonable. This sentence covers too broad a range, so friends can simply grasp one point: the so-called reasonableness means putting the most beautiful part of the material in the most conspicuous position! To put it bluntly, show off whatever is beautiful.

Finally, we need to highlight the beauty of colors. For colored materials, we need to show the beauty of colors as much as possible. To put it simply, we should try to make the color of the material the finishing touch.

Just like the landscape sign in the picture above, the material is clean, and its most beautiful part is the large area of ​​color, which is carved into mountains and catches the eye at first glance. It puts the most advantageous part of the material in the most conspicuous place. Moreover, the design of the mountains also shows the beauty of color very well, making the mountains appear three-dimensional and more charming, and the more you look at it, the more attractive it becomes. Therefore, the master who made this material is very good at examining and designing the material, and he carved this piece of material very carefully.

Let’s go back to the design drawing of “The Return of the Great Sage” in the third picture above. Friends have also noticed that the color of the entire material is placed in the most conspicuous place. I hope that these two pictures can help friends understand how to use materials reasonably. In fact, to put it roughly, when looking at a finished jade object, you should at least be able to find an eye-catching part in the work.

Like this brand, it is actually considered to be relatively good, and the carving cannot be said to be bad. However, the whole sign feels like there are too many things. At first glance, you don’t know where to look. There is no particularly prominent place, and it is difficult to grasp its highlights. Of course, this is not to say that it is bad. In fact, it can be seen from the carving that there are many problems with the material, and it took a lot of effort to produce the finished product.

I bring up the comparison to help my friends better understand what exactly is meant by making the best use of something. In fact, a good jade carving is like seeing a beautiful woman. It must have a part that makes people fall in love with and amaze people at first sight, and it must be able to show the beauty of the jade in the most conspicuous position, so that people can't help but take a second and third look, and become more and more fascinated.

Therefore, to judge whether the carving of a jade object is good or not, you can get two more practical points based on the above carving process. One is to see whether its design is reasonable. Reasonable design can be said to be the foundation of carving to some extent, while unreasonable design is equivalent to wasting the material.

Therefore, when we look at jade objects, without knowing much about them, we should just focus on one thing: whether there is something that catches your eye. If not, then either the object has no design highlights or it just does not suit your taste. No matter which of the two situations is the case, we can change to another one, because if it doesn't attract you, it's useless no matter how beautiful it is.

Another thing is that when you are attracted, check whether the material is clean, whether all the defects and cracks have been removed, whether the carved lines can withstand close scrutiny, and whether there are any damaged details. These are all basic details to look at when looking at the carving.

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