Asian Arts | Associations | Articles | Exhibitions | Galleries | Message Board | Departments

The cute little guy is about 3.5 inches in length, made from fine quality white-green jade. It is hard photograph white translucent material, So it may not be easy to see the tools/worn marks.

Very nice, the unique satin luster truly reflects a nice Qing dynasty piece and the carving lines look very nice though it would be fun to see them closely. It is no longer easy to acquire such niece pieces. Most of so called Qing dynasty pieces listed on eBay are modern fakes and some are not even made of nephrite.

Is it more celadon than white that appears on the picture? Or more a white with a green tint? How much does it weigh?

Thanks for sharing.

B

Could you take a better picture of the belly?
Perhaps put the carving on a white cloth.
Ernest

Dear KK

What made you think that it is of the Qing Dynasty?

I just wanted to know your opinion.

Have fun
Anita

While you are at it,a close-up of the mane would be great.
Ernest

Bill and Ernest,
These are all the pictures I have. I sold this piece to a friend sometime ago, so I am not able to take more picture or weight it. The color is very close in the pciture: very nice white with a small tine of gray/green. It is perfectly ok to call it white jade.

I have trouble photograph white jade in the past. Perhaps white cloth background will help. I will try to post other jade piece for discussion soon.

Hi, kk:

I totally agreed, it is a pain to picture white jade, especially with flashlight, you can never capture its true color and the flashlight will make the surface so bright it becomes blinding. That is why I take a lot of precautions in bidding on any white jades unless I can be absolutely sure what its exact color is. Place the jade on top of a piece of white paper help to detect its real color but may not help in taking its picture, some times a black background actually works better.

Put a sunlight (natural light) light bulb/florescent light bulb in your lamp and take the picture with the flash light on your digital camera off (set with manual exposure and speed) will help.

Either way, your friend had got a good piece from you. Any regret?

Bill

whatever/whenever it is, it' very lovely

Rat, Thanks!
Anita,
IMHO aesthetics Style is right, craving technique is correct plus fine material and signs of age.
All comments are welcome!

Dear KK

As of The Qing Dynasty:-

Style = "yes"

Stone = "yes"

Sign of age = "no any signs of age in the piece, stone is already altered"

Craftsmanship = "absolutely not"

---------------

It's a modern work.

Have fun
Anita

Bill, thanks for your tips. You may check out the photos in my new jade posting. I think the pictures quality are better.

My fiend paid about half of what I asking for this jade lion. so I think he was very happy.

that's such a nice piece.Where can I buy a similar one? Or at least one of its kind since this piece must be one-off. thx

Anita,
Thanks for your opinion.

If this piece is new, it is probably worth a lot more money.

Fine white jade materials are very expensive in China today. A 3,5 inches fine white jade worth more money than a Qing dynasty carving in the same size, same quality stone, but average craving. This is why 99% of the new antique style jades are craving in poor jade material. Today’s top quality white jade usually in fine craftsmanship in China in more popular subject, such as Guanyin and Buddha. Older Ming/Qing jade (4” or smaller) carvings are often a lot cheaper than new one.

In white jade cravings, stone quality often more important than age when it comes to value. This is very much the same in collecting diamond jewelry.




Jose,
I will suggest going to a reputable auction house. Smaller Qing jades are often sold at reasonable price.



KK

Hi, KK:

I have to agree with you that in today's jade market in China, the quality of white nephrite jade is almost more critical than the quality of carving (not saying it is not important)in determining its sales price. Any modern jade carvings that were carved with decent white nephrite jade, will be priced by its weight (in gram) and prices of larger pieces will be almost untouchable by average jade collectors and will be priced in six figures in RMB. This is a fact. It is almost like buying jadeite or diamond, sky is the limit for nice and large whit nephrite jade piece. Just like the Chinese saying, "There is a price for gold but no price (limit) for jade." The supply of nice Hetian jade or for that matter any truly nice white nephrite jades are close to being exhausted in XinJiang. As a matter of fact, raw Hetian jade roughes especially river seed jades will cost more in their raw forms than jade carvings especially those that were carved badly.

In short, some of these better quality white nephrite jade especially trully white Hetian nephrite jade carvings, especially those of Qing dynasty, are extremely undervalue in today's jade market and they had become more difficult and costly in obtaining.

I believe if you have listed this piece on eBay you would have no troubles in selling it (with good pictures) and may end up getting twice or more than what you had sold it to your friend for and that is why I asked you if you had any regret in selling it.

I cannot say for sure if this piece is indeed that of Qing dynasty without examining it in person. However, there is really not that much difference between a late Qing piece and early Republican piece (20s and 30s), therefore I do not believe anybody can really tell the difference between the two.

I do not undrestand how Anita can judge this piece based on such low-resolution pictures that:

"Sign of age = "no any signs of age in the piece, stone is already altered"

Craftsmanship = "absolutely not"

Does she believe this is a "modern" piece? In that sense, it will be actually more costly to carve such a piece becaues the jade material will cost a lot more. It is difficult to convince Anita that nephrite is a very limited resource and one cannot simply acquire them cheaply in China.

May be she will show us her genuine "Qing" pieces side by side with yours and show us the differences between them.

Thanks for sharing.

B

What if the item was made in the 1960s to 1970s? That was before Hetian white nephrite price went crazy!

I want to point out the more tranlucent/transparent part in between the white lines on the tail in the second picture. Are these white lines fractures or whitish inclusions? The translucent/transparent part may be a warning of being non-jade such as calcite. Has this jade piece gone through a hardness test or S.G. test?

On the first picture, the Fu Dog/beast head is a little too flat to be of the Qing period or early 1900's. On the third picture, the crevices between the legs and the body appear to be too shiny that seems to be a sign of modern work. Even though the hollow work on the tail was very delicately done, the Overall gong/work does appear like a Qing replica!

The item might have been waxed, and that might affect its overall appearance in the picture!

Hi, Randy:

You brought up some good points and it is possible you may be right with some of them. Unfortunately, since KK no longer has this piece and therefore he can neither test the piece or provide closer pictures of its carving lines, I do not believe any of us can know for sure.

It does look like nephrite to me but again low-resolution pictures of either white or celadon jades can play tricks on one's eyes.

Now the only thing I do not quite agree with you is that you seem to believe that waxing can increase the luster of a jade carving. I do not believe any amount of waxing will really increase the luster of any jade carvings. May be clear finger nail polish will?

Another thing is, even in the 60s or 70s, do they have quality white nephrite jades readily available? What was the purpose of making such fake Qing pieces then?

B

Dear Bill,

I did not make this statement that waxing can increase the luster of the item! I only said that any waxing done to the item could affect the appearance thus our judgment in viewing the pictures.

Modern Qing replica tend to have usually shiny carve lines.

Waxing is done mainly to protect the white nephrite from drying up. It also protects the white nephrite from oxidation. After the item has been waxed, it is usually polish with a all-cotton towel or chamois. It depends how well is the polish on the jade surface. Usually the polishing after waxing can enhance the luster on flat and smooth surface just like shoe-shining.

You will be amazed to find out the number of fine quality Hetian white jades available, and the numbers of Min Guo and Qing replica that were available since at least the early 1960's.

Randy Li

Hi, Randy:

Thanks for clarifying your statement, I really appreciate it. What you said about "Modern Qing replica tends to have usually shiny carving lines" does make sense.

I am still not quite sure about the numbers of fine quality Hetian white jades available since early 1960s, can you post some examples here?

Thanks.

B

Here are a few top quality white jade from an Auction in Beijing about two years ago. They are all new cravings done in superior craftsmanship. They sold for a more money than its own weight in 24K gold. Top quality white jade is not inexpensive as they were during Qing Dynasty. As a result substitute jade materials were widely used today such as Russian white jade.

Randy,

Welcome back to the main forum. It is been a while since your last amber postings. This is good quality white jade, no wax or any clear coating of any kind. There is no question about this. It’s easy to tell from handling.

Fine white jade were expensive during 1960-1970’s, because Chinese people are extremely poor under Mao’s rule. This period is also a time of boiling passion and this had a great effect on Arts, from porcelain paintings to Ivory and wood cravings. Do you see this characteristic style on this jade craving?

All periods has its own style and taste, which is neither easy nor inexpensive to copy. The clues for dating jade are often not in the smallest details: surface, wear, and tool marks. The style and taste of the piece often speak it all. This is very much the same as dating antique porcelain or carvings of most materials. This is why I said my jade belt hook is an easy piece to date.

Thanks for all for participating in this discussion.

KK

Dear K.K.,

I do not agree that Qing white jades were overly expensive in the 1960s to 1970's! The Cultural Revolution had no doubt caused a decline in workmanship at certain time. But, the Chinese were striving for export especially during the time when Commodity Fairs were popular.

Being in the trade myself in the early 1970's up to the mid-1980's. I had handled a lot of white jades. My dad used to bid for many lots of white jades at the commodity fairs! The white Qing jade items were inexpensive!

Randy Li

Thanks Randy.
Yes, this is my point. Qing Dynasty white jade are inexpensive! They are often sold in lot back in the 70-80's in the Commodity Fairs. In face they are still sold in lot to meet the min. $1000 requirement in Auction houses today here in US. Smaller 2-3 inches Antique Qing Dynasty jades are not rare nor expensive today. Fine white jade material are more expensive then the Qing craved pieces in similar size.

Qianlong craftsmanship jade carvings are a different story.

I would like to learn more details about Randy's definition of "inexpensive" in reference to Qing dynasty jades, where and how much his dad might have acquired these inexpensive Qing dynasty jades. Also, was it possible that they were being sold at under market prices due to the ignorance of the dealers in community fairs who were not necessarily knowledgeable jade dealers? Please understand that I was not doubting what Randy said but was simply curious to learn more.

The reason I am saying that is because my friend B, who was working as a high school teacher in the early 70s in Hong Kong, said a Qing dynasty jade piece would cost him an average of HK $ 200-300 each at that time and he was making only HK $ 900 a month. The exchange rate of HK dollars to US dollars was 5:1 then. Therefore each Qing piece would cost about US $40 to $60 each at the time and it might seem to be "inexpensive" in today's market, however it would be equivalent to about 1/3 of a high school teacher's salary then. My father was a brewmaster in the famous San Miquel Brewery in Hong Kong during the late 60s and early 1970s, I remember he was making about HK $ 1,200-1,500 a month. In the late 60s he bought a Leica (made in Germany) M3 camera for $ 3,000 Hong Kong dollars and today this old camera is still worth about US $ 1,000-1,500. When I came to the States in 1974, he bought me a man's Rolex steel watch that cost HK $600 at the time and today the same watch is still worth about US$ 600. At that time a piece of nice Grade A jadeite jewelery cost about HK $ 150-300 each and they would be worth about US $ 3,000 a piece at today's market. Therefore, it is really difficult to judge what is not expensive or overly expensive unless once can compare their prices with other items or average income during those periods. It is possible the Qing dynasty jades may actually be cheaper in today's US market than in the 60s to 70s's Hong Kong market? May be other jade collectors can share their experience with us by giving some real examples.

B

Asianart.com | Associations | Articles | Exhibitions | Galleries | Message Board | Departments