WHAT IS JADE?
WHAT IS IT?
What is jade? Great question. The fascination with jade is legendary. It has been used and appreciated by the Chinese since Neolithic times and today we enjoy a Jade Renaissance in the West. However, many misconceptions abound in the marketplace about this amazing gemstone and its characteristics. Here, you will find answers to the most Frequently Asked Questions we receive, including a well-explained jade definition.
Among the oldest of known gemstones, jade has been appreciated at many different levels throughout history: first as an object used in daily life, then in pagan times as an object of ritual. Later, it acquired economic status as an item of barter and wealth, and today it has become a medium of art and personal adornment.
However, the word 'jade' actually refers to two chemically different stones: jadeite, a pyroxene or a silica-bearing mineral, and nephrite, an amphibole, or a ferro-magnesium silicate. Although different, they share many common characteristics.
Nephrite jade, which the Chinese grew to appreciate so deeply, was the form of jade they first encountered in the Neolithic period. It was used for thousands of years and simply referred to as ‘jade’. Another ‘jade’ discovery occurred in the mid-late 1700’s in northern Burma. This jade was found in a greater variety of colors than in the past, and the colors were often much more vivid and translucent. Although the Chinese knew there was a difference, it was not for almost another 100 years until 1863 when French mineralogist Alexis Damour discovered the mineralogical differences between the jades.
When jadeite jade was first introduced into China, it was called Fet'Sui or kingfisher jade because of the brilliance of colors it manifested and to distinguish it from the traditional nephrite form of jade. In time, jadeite eclipsed nephrite in terms of value, and today it is considered gem jade. Today's fine jewelry market uses jadeite jade almost exclusively; nephrite is generally valued for its antiquity, carving excellence and other historical considerations rather than its intrinsic material value. Interestingly enough, both the terms jadeite and nephrite refer to the kidneys because of early beliefs that jade was effective for diseases of the loins.
Apart from its technical aspects, however, there is a magic about the stone that inspired cultures as diverse as the Chinese, the Mayans, even the court of Czarist Russia. Its charms elude precise definition; jade reveals itself in the language of myth and legend.
