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Subject:Re: Jade Statuary
Posted By: Bill H Thu, Jan 07, 2021
Don, China began running out of raw jade supplies, consisting of the true jades nephrite and jadeite, during the Ming dynasty. Imperial and other jade carvers began importing mostly jadeite from across the border in Burma during the Qing period.
Serpentine, also called Bowenite, has been the convincing false jade that has been much the stone of choice used for Mainland and many other export jadelike carvings since then. It means little what you relatives may have taken for truth when they were told it was "Chinese jade", because the Chinese lexicon is full of such euphemistic terms for these carvings. The best way of determining authenticity is to subject the carving to a relative density test, to determine the stone's underwater and dry weights, then use a math formula to figure actual density on the Moh's geological scale of hardness. True jades are very near the top of the scale, behind diamond and sapphire.
Please see the link for further information. And photo of a Kangxi (1662-1722) period nephrite jade censer.
Best regards,
Bill H.
URL Title :Jade Information
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