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Subject:The Rarest Nephrite Jade Color
Posted By: Bill Wed, Aug 22, 2007 IP: 192.55.208.10
The purpose of this thread is to discuss the different colors of nephrite jades that are naturally available based on both Chinese and English literature regarding this subject. Since ancient time, Chinese like to describe nephrite by their natural colors. They love both yellow and white jades. At the same time, based on my limited experience, I will also try to render my personal opinion on the rarity of the different nephrite colors. Of course, since these are only my personal opinions, they can very well be off the mark and hopefully jade collectors who are reading this thread will give their personal opinion regarding the rarity of each nephrite jade color with or without pictures. The importance of these discussions are of two-fold:
(1) With a better understanding of the natural colors of nephrite, a collector may be more cautious in the acquisitions of nephrite jade carvings that are with unnatural colors which may be resulted from dyeing or other artificial process. A collector will learn in how to avoid buying non-jade carvings because their colors are simply not that of natural nephrite.
(2) With a better understanding of the rarity of certain types of nephrite (color), a collector may be able to better appraise and authenticate a piece of jade carving due to the scarcity and uniqueness of such jade material. Many unique-colored nephrite jades were found in certain localities and were used to carve certain jades during certain eras.
The discussion of nephrite colors in ancient Chinese literature
During the Shang dynasty, they categorized the color of nephrite into: Bai (white), Chi (red or scarlet), Hei (black) and Wu (mixed colors). At that time, there was no such word as Lu (Green). There was also no such word �Qing� (pale green, blue green, dark green) found in the oracle bone scripts. Therefore, were there any �green� jades found in Shang tombs. The answer is yes. There were jades with different degrees of greenness (not as bright green as jadeite) from Shang tombs. Some were yellowish-brown, some brownish-green, some grayish-white, only a few yellow and not that many black. Therefore, it indicates the preference of white nephrite jades did not start with Shang dynasty. Yellowish-green jades were the most popular at that time.
During the Qin and Han (Eastern and Western) dynasties, the colors �Lu:� (green), Cang (bluish green, yellowish green) and Qing (pale green, blue green, dark green) are always associated with jade colors. However, Qing color can mean blue, green or black color. (*I have seen a lot of jade carving pictures listed on many Chinese jade books that are labeled as Qing jades but they look more yellow than green to me.) The word �Cang� is hard to understand. It is usually used to describe the color of the sky (bluish green), e.g., Cang Tien. It is also used as Cang Bi (A cang-color jade bi) and Cang Yu (a cang-color jade). According to ancient Chinese literature, Cang is very similar to the color of �grass�, from fresh grass (bluish-green) to dried grass (yellowish-green). Since there is no such thing as �blue jade�, Qing jade can be jades with color from black to green; Cang jades are jades with color from green to yellow. Therefore, the literature from both Qin and Han dynasties are very ambiguous in the definition of jade colors.
Current Classifications of Nephrite by their colors (based on their rarity)
The following are the different grades of nephrites based on their rarity (from the rarest to the least rare) based on some modern Chinese literature: (I do not totally agree with them and I will explain in later sections)
1. Mutton Fat Jade (white nephrite) � this is the top quality of Hetian (Khotan, Hotan) jade, a white nephrite, found only in XinJiang, China. According to some Chinese literature, to be qualified as Hetian jades, the stone has to contain at least 90% tremolite, to be labeled as Mutton Fat jades, it has contain at least 99% tremolite. The highest quality of mutton fat jade has to have at least a specific gravity of 3.000 and a hardness of 6.0 or higher. The major component of white nephrite is tremolite (with a large amount of magnesium) and very small amount of actinolite and iron. One interesting fact is the �whiteness� is not the primary criterion for �mutton fat jade� because many other white nephrite such as Russian white nephrite and Qinghai (from other side of Mt. Kunlun) can actually be more white that mutton fat jades. It is rather based on its texture and the degree of its emulsified look (I have posted the definition for Mutton Fat jades in another thread and not going to repeat it here). Another interesting fact is that while we are always equate �Hetian Jade� with �White Nephrite�, in fact, there are many other color of Hetian jades and I will describe them later.
In the current Chinese market, a mutton-fat jade rough that slightly exceeds 1 kg, will be worth about US $12,500 to 30,000. It is very difficult to find any mutton-fat jade rough that weighs more than 10 kg. Any mutton-fat pebbles that exceed 100 gram will be worth from US$2,500 to 6,000.
2. Qing-Bai jade (white-green nephrite)
The basic color of qing-bai jade is white with a green tint or a grey tint. Mr. Eric Hoffman told me one time that in order to make sure a piece is indeed made of mutton fat jade and not qing-bai jade, you have to place the jade piece in front of a piece of white paper and see it you can detect the green tint. The white nephrite jade ru-yi that was just obtained by my jade friend, B, is made of this type of jade material. At first we thought it was made of mutton-fat jade (white nephrite) but when we moved it back and forth we could detect a trace of green tint. This type of qing-bai jade is worth about US$250-1,250 each kg. Many are sold as �White Nephrite� in the current Chinese markets.
3. Huang Jade (yellow nephrite)
Huang jade can be found in pale yellow, deep yellow, brownish-yellow, pumkin yellow, yellow-flower yellow, egg yolk yellow, tiger skin yellow. The production of yellow nephrite are very scarce. Their prices are quite high. Top quality yellow nephrite will exceed US $ 6,250 a kg. Intermediate grade of yellow nephrite is around US $ 2,500 a kg.
4. Qing Jade (pale green nephrite; see other definitions of Qing in early section)
Qing jade can range from very light green to very dark green (I am going to post a Qing jade bird here in this thread, fig. 1 as an example). The better quality of qing jades are those that of lighter green color, very delicate color, very fine texture, it is a very good nephrite. Due to large fluctuation in the qualities of Qing jades, their prices can range from US$20 to 1,000 a kg. The top quality Qing jade is about US 1,250 a kg.
There are many authentic Hongshan jade pieces made of Qing jades, some are nephrite and some are serpentine. However, many Hongshan fakes are also made of Qing jades which are mostly serpentine. Therefore, the Qing color is the most difficult color to tell if a jade piece is made of nephrite. I will post the picture of a pair of Qing Jade Fu Lions as picture 2 which are made of serpentine for comparison with the first Qing jade bird (made of top quality nephrite).
5. Mo jade (Ink nephrite or Black nephrite)
Mo jade ranges from a bluish-greenish-black (like the Chinese ink) to a completely black color. Once polished, the Mo jade pieces are glistening. This type of nephrite is not commonly seen. The author of the article predicts Mo jade carvings will be a hot collector target. He believe the price of top quality Mo jade will increase tremendously.
6. Bi Jade (bluish green nephrite)
Bi jade can be further divided into: green, dark green, gloomy green, not-fresh green. Their qualities are inferior to other types of nephrite, you can easily see black patches and crystal structures inside them.
Classification of Hetian jades (nephrite) by their colors:
Very often Hetian jades is easily equated with �white nephrite�, however, in real life, there are many different colors of Hetian jades and they are very similar to that of nephrite jades (see above) except the last one (sugar jade).
1. White Hetian Jade � it has to contain at least 95% of nephrite with at least 90% tremolite (*these percentage may not be totally accurate) to be called white hetian jade. The top grade white hetian jade, mutton fat jade, has to contain at least 99% tremolite, their material have to be smooth and pure and with a �fatty� llik with brilliant luster (I have posted the definition of mutton fat jade in another thread). The Qing-bai jade is the next top grade of hetian jade and its material is equal to that of mutton fat jade with only a small green tint. The lowest quality of white hetian jade will be white nephrite seen with green colors (more than a tint).
2. Qing Hetian Jade (pale green nephrite) 3. Huang Hetian Jade (yellow nephrite 4. Mo Hetian jade (black nephrite) 5. Bi Hetian Jade (dark green nephrite) are very similar to that of nephrite colors described above.
6. Sugar Hetian Jade � one of my jade pal once told me this jade should be translated as �Candy Jade� (or the other way around?) due to its candy color. However, I read the article and it explain the reason it was called sugar jade (Tang jade) is because its color looks like brown sugar. It can also be found in �red� color. However, this is really not a true �Red� nephrite because its outside �red� color is formed by the oxidiation of iron (to form ferrous irons) on the outside layer of a hetian jade pebble. As a result, different degree of �red� outside layers are formed on the nephrite pebble. The deep red one is called �Sugar Jade� (red nephrite). Some are called tiger-pelt jades. The white one with pink tints are called �powder jades�. (Look at last picture for a sugar jade)
In the following link: http://www.hetianyu.com/htywj/htyzs/200609/288.html
Titled: �What is Sugar Skin?� explains what sugar hetian jade is:
�Sugar Skin � the outside yellowish-brown layer found on hetian jade pebbles, because of its resembling the color of brown sugar, therefore, the sugar-skin hetian jades were called �sugar jades�. The inside of the sugar jades are either Qin (pale green) or white jades. This outside layer is quite thick, ranges from 20mm to 30 mm, therefore it completely wraps up the inside Qin or white nephrite. �.from analysis it is found that such sugar skin is formed from the oxidation of Hetian jade, such sugar skin is formed from nephrite crystals with light brownish iron materials. �..Upon chemical analysis, the composition of white nephrite is very similar to that of sugar skin with two exceptions:
There are more Fe2O3 than FeO in the sugar skin but more FeO than Fe2O3 in white nephrite;
There are a higher concentration of SO3 (around 1.28%) inside the sugar skin but lesser SO3 found in white nephrite (0.24 � 0.6%).
These two major differences indicate that Sugar Jade is a product formed by oxidation in the environment. It was produced after the formation of the hetian jade, water flow through the cracks on the hetain jades, and it changes the iron in the hetain jades to Fe2O3. Therefore, the sugar skin is a result of iron being oxidized.�
My Opinions on different nephrite colors and their rarity
Not too long ago, I bought up the discussion of the existence of real RED nephrite in another forum and a few jade pals show the pictures of their �RED� nephrite jade pieces to show the existence of such nephrite. Many dealers are selling RED nephrite items on the internet. So far, based on my researches and actual studies, I can say with almost one hundred percent certainty that there is no such �RED� nephrite existed in nature. Yes, there is red jadeite. Most red nephrite are either dyed (if soaked in water, the red dye will come off) or �Sugar Jades� (white or Qin nephrite with a red coating). (*There is a rumor some very authentic Hongshan pig dragons are made of red nephrite. However, it is possible these may be nephrite mixed with some other red stones such as corundum (ruby).)
In the same token, I am very suspicious with any nephrite jades that are dirty brown, dark brown, brown sugar brown. Many of them are also dyed. However, I did see quite a few smaller Hongshan fakes are made of some types of very hard brownish stones that have similar physical properties (hardness and S.G.) as nephrite. I cannot confirm if they are nephrite or not without further studies.
I do not believe there are blue or pink nephrite and if there are they are probably a mixture of nephrite with some other stones and they will not be able to pass the hardness and S.G. tests.
I think they are some gray nephrite but I normally trying to avoid them because they just do not look good at all.
Now out of all these different color of nephrite I have so far discussed which one do I believe is the most difficult to find or the rarest, in terms of raw materials and in terms of being used in carving archaic jade items?
I believe it is �YELLOW NEPHRITE�. The reason I am saying that is because so far I have not been able to obtain either a real yellow nephrite slab/rough or a jade carving that is made of real yellow nephrite (not dyed). In ancient China, because the pronounciation of the Chinese word Huang (yellow) is similar to that of the word Wang (King or emperor), all yellow nephrite are highly treasured an reserved for the use of emperors. At one time, its value exceeds that of white nephrite. While it is true that the current price of white nephrites are much higher but they are actually readily available if you can afford the prices. The same cannot be said about yellow nephrite. I am not very sure if one can find a large piece of top-quality bright yellow nephrite (more than 1 kg) anywhere. May be somebody will know the answer for my question. Another interesting fact is that according to an article, the basic color of nephrite jades found in Xiu-yan that were used to carve authentic Hongshan jades are: white, yellowish-white, green and black. If you look at some of these Hongshan jade books, you will find quite a few authentic Hongshan pieces are made of this type of pale yellow or bright yellow nephrite. Therefore, if one can find Hongshan pieces made of such yellow nephrite with brilliant luster, new-stone age carvings, there is a very high possibility that such piece will be authentic. Again, that is only my personal opinion.
The next one I believe is Black nephrite. The only places I have heard of black nephrite can still be found are in Wyoming, U.S.A. and Australia. The mines in Wyoming have closed long time ago. I have yet to see a truly BLACK nephrite rock (with no tints of green). I have seen a few jewelry that are made of Australian black nephrite but they are quite expensive. I have not seen too many archaic Chinese jade carvings that are made of genuine and completely black nephrite. Therefore I believe it is rarer than white nephrite.
Well, the next one will be white nephrite. The rest, I guess you may use your own imaginations.
Your comments are welcome.
Bill
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