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Jade cannot be carved. Because of
its hardness, it can rarely be shaped by chiseling or chipping but must be
worn away by abrasion with tools and hard sand pastes. This is a process
that requires immense patience - even with modern machinery equipped with
diamond-tipped burrs that grind out intricate designs, it remains laborious.
Yet jade appeared in Chinese cultures several thousand years before metal
tools existed. Neolithic jade artisans worked with bamboo, bone, and stone
tools, using a drilling or bow action to abrade the jade with sand. Because
the process was so labor-intensive and time-consuming, jades reflected the
ability of a ruling elite to command resources, and therefore came to symbolize
power, status and prestige.
Nephrite's fibrous nature makes it a great challenge to
the craftsman. Yet, as overcompensation, its toughness makes possible the rendering of plates, bowls, and vases
paper-thin, as well as the cutting of chains from solid blocks of stone. Nephrite is the better material, in general, for
such elaborate work, but the superb craftsmen of China have successfully wrought the more sensitive jadeite in similar
fashion.
In the jade-carving workshops of today, there are thought to be as many as
30 kinds of jade in use. Famous among the jade workshops on mainland China are those in Qingtian (Zhejiang province),
Shoushan (Fujian province), and Luoyang (Hunan province).
- by the Education Department of the Asian Art Museum
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