| Original Message: The pleasures of "Chicochai" jade |
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Hello Jake, I have to say that I, with some sorrow, have come around to Will's view of the age of a good portion of Chicochai's jades. Sorrow not because I bought and sold many of these jades believing that they were actually ancient although that is reason for some regret. The hardest part is letting go of the seductive idea that these sometimes quite beautiful and sometimes humorous or charming small pendants are very old or ancient. Nevertheless, I am going to stick my neck out here (at the risk of getting my head chopped off) and defend what I see as the virtues and pleasures of "Chicochai quality jades." (i.e., jades which like those carefully chosen by Edmund Lei of Chicochai, have been selectively culled by Chicochai and a few other jade galleries as well from the thousands and thousands available in China). So, as an aside, part of what I am saying here is that I can well believe that your friends have "good taste." The nephrite jade from which all of the "neolithic era" jades are made is often beautifully colored and marked. (One can't always say neolithic or Hongshan style jades, because many of the designs are fantasy pieces inspired by a notion of the neolithic aesthetic or sometimes invented out of whole cloth.) Because they are true jade and many of them are smooth and well -"carved," they lend themselves to the ages-old pleasures of touch: Some of them nicely fit the contours of the hand. Some jades which I wear or handle frequently become more and more translucent over time. Body heat can make them glow from within. Most interesting to me and a subject which deserves much more attention, is the fact that some of these copies, fakes, imitations, CREATIONS are unique and engaging rather than cookie-cutter mass-productions. The Hongshan style -- or what was thought to be Hongshan- swept the world by storm. I know that I was caught up in the wave of enthusiasm for the neolithic which was inspired by the twentieth centuries discoveries of the Hongshan and Liangzhu cultures among others. Here was something fresh and new -- totally unlike the classical Han and post-Han motifs which had been copied ad infinitum to the point where all the life had been drained out of them. I believe that in many cases the makers themselves have been inspired by the Hongshan aesthetic. I would guess that all discoveries of a new aesthetic are accompanied by small, local flurries of creativity until what is "new" through over-exposure, becomes old and tired. (As has been mentioned, this has happened again and again in China. Similarly, we've seen various periods of Egyptian revival and certainly the Japonisme of the late 19th century in France and elsewhere would qualify as an example.) Of course I am not equating new fantasy productions with actual true expressions of the original culture. There is no such comparison to be made. I am merely making the case that some recent jades are certainly as interesting and beautiful as many of the lifeless and and stultified productions of the Qing and perhaps earlier. (Of course, again, there are beautiful Qing jades, that is not the point.) Here are some of my favorite necklaces. Terry All rights reserved by Bead Collector Network and its users |
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