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Got this from an elderly lady selling trinkets in Chinatown. Carving is not intricate or very fine but I believe this to be Qing period jade. Or is it?

Do not trust elderly Chinese ladies. The answer to you question is in your letter"Carving is not intricate or very fine" Your photo is bad too !!!
my best estimate is after1960.

Ernest,thanks for your quick response and advice, and apologies for the bad photo. I hope that this one is clearer. I do not agree with your "best estimate" as I think this piece is much older. We all know that it is not the story but the item in question that matters and shouldn't we not let our bad experiences with elderly ladies dim our better judgement or vision?

Yes, that second photo is better. BUT, I need those 2 lines in the middle as a sharp close-up, which could tell me a lot
Rrgrds
Ernest Wilhelm

It was highly unlikely for any one to find any Qing dynsty jade carvings in any Chinatowns, probably much less than the chance of finding a one carat D flawless diamond there. Just like Ernest said, neither the quality of the jade material or its carving resembles any late Qing/early Rupublic jade carvings. I just hope you did not pay too much for it. Sorry.

Dear Super, as I had replied Ernest, the story does not matter and I am sure we all have different concepts of the "Chinatowns" in different parts of the world.

I can't tell a flawless diamond from a flawed piece of glass (and I have no interest in learning to do so) but I do have an interest in jade and have learned a little about jade from folks like you and Ernest from your numerous postings here. As this site is a "forum", it was only my intent to share something I had found which is, in my opinion, jade of a certain age.

If the story is really relevant, then you should know that I have known this elderly lady who runs a shop in Chinatown, for close to 4 decades now. I have given her some Peranakan dishes my mother left behind and over the years, she had given / sold me old family pictures and some jade pieces, like this large carving.

I paid very little for my jade pieces but the friends I have made in the Chinatown here as well as in various parts of China (the real large Chinatown) have been priceless. Thank you.

Hi, Michael: Please understand that I did not try to show any disrespect to the piece you show us and really appreciate your generosity in sharing it with us. The material and color of your piece shown in your second picure looks much better, more white than celadon and more refined than that was shown by the first picture. The best way to capture its true color is to place it on a piece of white paper and under natural sundlight (or full-specgtrum lamp). Is it pure white, white with celadon or cealdon?

I was acutally more disappointed with the degree of difficulties in obtaining any decent jade pieces. Even in the 60s and 70s, it was not cheap to acquire any authentic Qing dynasty jade carvings. During the Qing Emperor QianLong era, import and sales of Hetian jade was highly regulated by the imperial government, mostly reserved for the uses of imperial jade workshops only, just like the regulated sales of salt. Any smugglers would be punished by death. Only until later Qing, regulations for jade imports were relaxed but jade carvings were still very expensive to own. Today, nice modern quality Hetian jade carvings actually cost more than older Qing dynsasy/early Republican jade pieces due to the scarcity of good material. Therefore, the chance for one to find a decent Qing dynasty piece has some time extremely difficult and costly. Any Chinese who know or even those who do not know anything about jade, would not part with any decent jade carvings cheaply. Now of course, if you do have a profound friendship with the lady, it was indeed possible for her to give you a good price. Without personally examing it closely, none of us would be able to say for sure how good it may be. Again, I apologize if I may have appeared to look down upon your piece. I have just come to a stage that I realize it is so very difficult to find any decent jade carving these days without mortgaging one's house. For that reason, I have not bought any jade pieces for a while. Thanks for sharing. Super

Hello Super. Thank you once again for sharing your insight on the collecting of jade, a topic both fascinating and frustrating at the same time. In our lingo, I would say that, in this topic, you have "eaten more salt than most folks like us have eaten rice". I think you know what I mean.

I just got back from China, travelling between Taiyuan and Khunsan. Your insight applies in China too, where one either pays exorbitant prices for not-so-high quality but genuine pieces or gets ripped off by fakes at more, so-called, "affordable prices". As I do not have the luxury to go shopping when I am in China, I do not buy jade from shops. I am very fortunate to have friends and acquaintances who invite me to their homes where I get to see and admire their collections of jade, porcelain and paintings. I will occasionally be gifted with some small objects such as tea cups or calligraphy. When I am lucky, I get to collect some small pieces from my hosts or their contacts.

In this trip, I brought back a small white glazed tea-pot, a small nephrite jade seal in the carving of a duck and a nephrite pendant, which my host in Khunsan said was for my 檢考 and 分析 . He bought these jade pieces as "new carvings" without real age but good carvings nevertheless. He asked me to judge for myself. I paid 2000 RMB for the jade and the tea-pot was a gift.

I apologise once again for my poor photos. Not having invested in a good camera, I am still using my trusty HTC phone.

It is really funny because our father always told us children 我食鹽多過你食飯 (in Cantonese) "I ate more salt than the rice that was eaten by all of you". To hear that from you brought back fond memory because my Dad had passed away years ago.

I envy your being able to travel through China and more envy in that you have a friend who was willing to pass the custodianship of his jade pieces to you. Very often, jade lovers are very reluctant in parting with their jades. I like the material of this duck jade seal, the texture of its bottom (first picture)resembles that of Hetian nephrite jade. Better pictures and/or opinions from LEE would confirm it. The carving on the bottom is pretty decent and material appears to be a bit translucent which is good if it can pass the scratch test. Can it be scratched? What is its real color on top of a piece of white paper and under sunlight? Is it pure white or with a bit of green tint? I believe if it was made of white Hetian nephrite jade, RMB2000 would be a steal, it should easily be worth at least RMB6000 in today's China where supplies of genuine Hetian nephrite jade especially white one are almost extinct. I believe many so called "Hetain" jade these days were not nephrite jade or nephrite jade that came from Qinghai (other side of Mt. Kulun). It would be nice if you would also share the piece of nephrite pendent with us. I have come to a stage that I just know enough about jade to get myself into troubles but not expert enough to be willing to spend crazy money on any jade carvings. Again, thanks for sharing your pieces with us. Super

Super, the duck seal has a slight green tinge while the pendent is pure white. The seal is 3 inches tall and its base 3/4 x 1 inch. The pendent is 1 3/4 x 2 1/2 inches.I did not measure its thickness. They dont scratch. I am having a hard time trying to get good pictures. I had to tilt the pendent to get a decent image of the carved words. Hope that these pictures are ok. I am not sure about the quality of the nephrite but I think these pieces are not very old. They are just nice collectibles.

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